DR Requirements for Obtaining a Divorce from US of a Dominican Resident

R

rms171

New member
Jun 28, 2013
153
0
0
I would like guidance (and perhaps an internet reference) on how I go about serving divorce papers to my spouse who lives in the Dominican Republic; I live in the United States. No one at the consular in New York answers calls. I receive contradictory instructions from my township civil clerk (where I am filing), and my attorney in the DR on the steps to take. The civil clerk says I need to obtain instructions from the Consular to attach to my complaint. My attorney says I bring the divorce papers to the consular for registration. The conflict lies in that the civil clerk does not sign the complaint without instructions from the consular, and to me I cannot picture the consular registering anything until the divorce documents are acknowledged as received by the township civil clerk.

Any help would be incredibly appreciated as there is enough stress without the contradictory advice I seem to be getting.

Michael :ermm:
 
D

Derfish

Gold
Jan 7, 2016
4,441
2
0
DO you know exactly where the other party lives? Are you sure? If you do not you can run an announcement in a local newspaper about the divorce being filed and when that is not answered go ahead and file with the stipulation you have advertised to find tem and to no avail. That is how I would go about it. I know a Colombian who divorced her Colombian husband in that manner. Should work here also I would assume. Ask your lawyer about that possibility.
Der Fish
 
R

RGM

New member
Jun 5, 2010
27
0
0
Well this has happened to me. It was necessary for me to obtain a Dominican lawyer ,and papers had to be served to my wife in the Dominican. This happened back in 2006, and took approximately 1year to obtain the divorce final papers. It was not necessary for me to be in country, however I did have to go see the lawyer in person. Hope this helps.
 
M

Meemselle

Just A Few Words
Oct 27, 2014
2,844
389
83
You'd just better be VERY sure that the papers are served correctly. When my ex- (living in the US) divorced me while I was living here, the papers were not served correctly, and it was one of the issues in my favor when I took him to the cleaners.....ahem, I mean, court, for alimony.
 
keepcoming

keepcoming

Moderator - Living & General Stuff
May 25, 2011
4,775
2,541
113
Yes agree with the above. A good friend went through the process, or she thought. Only to find out later (at a very inopportune time I may add) that she was still married. The papers were not served correctly nor were the correct steps followed. Make sure the lawyer you have is familiar with divorces involving one spouse in the DR and the other in the USA. You definitely want the divorce to be considered legal in the USA so following the correct steps is crucial. My friend went through h*ll resolving the issue.
 
M

Micherie

New member
Jun 29, 2016
15
0
0
Hi Meemselle... hope you are still around :) What do you mean 'correctly'? Do they have to be served by a court official or a sheriff? My friend just mailed copies for his wife to sign, which she did, and now he will file the signatures here in the U.S. to get the judgement finalized. Is that not good enough?
 
M

Meemselle

Just A Few Words
Oct 27, 2014
2,844
389
83
Micherie said:
Hi Meemselle... hope you are still around :) What do you mean 'correctly'? Do they have to be served by a court official or a sheriff? My friend just mailed copies for his wife to sign, which she did, and now he will file the signatures here in the U.S. to get the judgement finalized. Is that not good enough?
Click to expand...

Just through the mail???? I guess it depends on the level of acrimony.

Also, what state in the US? Each state, just as they have different divorce laws, have different laws for process servers.

At the very least, the server MUST speak passable English; must know what the papers are that he/she is serving; the papers MUST be in a sealed envelope inside of another sealed envelope with the recipient's name on it. The server will ask if the person is (name on envelope) but it's also not a bad idea for them to ask to see ID as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom