divorce laws

Carol Price

New member
Feb 7, 2002
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I have a friend that said she acquired an internet divorce from Santa Domingo thru a middleman(US attorney-via internet). Is this an actual legal divorce?
 

Fabio J. Guzman

DR1 Expert
Jan 1, 2002
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www.drlawyer.com
A special provision in Dominican divorce law allows foreigners to obtain a divorce in the Dominican Republic in a very short time without any residency requirement. The requirements are as follows:

1) The grounds for divorce must be mutual consent.
2) At least one spouse must travel to the Dominican Republic to be present in court.
3) The absent spouse must be represented by a special power-of-attorney authorizing a representative to appear in court for him/her and to consent to the divorce.
4) The parties must agree and consent to the jurisdiction of the Dominican Court.

If these requirements are not met, the divorce will be invalid. Therefere, "unilateral" divorces (in which the spouses have not agreed to the divorce) and "mail order" divorces (in which neither spouse appears in court) are both illegal under the special divorce statute for foreigners. Many dishonest "services" and "sites" on the web, however, continue to defraud unsuspecting victims.