US Marriage Laws And DR Marriage Laws

SallyAnne said:

Now. US marriage laws are a bit different from DR. Not that this is important, but I thought i would lay out all the laws. DR is age 16 males 15 females to marry. In US the age at which you can marry varies from state to state. How do the US marriage laws effect my marriage in the DR?

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SallyAnne said:

First. I have had enough of the "you cannot be serious" "omg this is the best one i have heard yet" or "you need to do.." blahblah blah. Look, I have been up on your Sankies Forum I have been doing my research I know what I am looking out for. I have been screwed into the ground before and it will never happen again. So, if you could please just stick to answering my question i would appreciate it. thank you

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Malibook said:

SallyAnne, don't pay any attention to all of the nay sayers.

It is perfectly normal to marry someone you have never met and plan to live in a country you have never visited.

Please keep us posted and feel free to add some wedding pictures to the gallery.

Congratulations and good luck.

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If you are getting married in the Dominican Republic, the separate property agreement must be prepared by a Dominican Notary BEFORE the marriage (that?s why it?s called a ?prenuptial? agreement) and handed over to the Civil Registry Officer (?Oficial de Estado Civil?) at the marriage.
I am assuming that you?ll want the agreement to be enforceable in the Dominican Republic. If you don?t care about this but are only interested in its validity in your home country, then you?ll have to consult an attorney from home.

The prenuptial agreement is as simple or as complicated as the future spouses want it to be. A straight separation agreement is a very simple document. It will state in legal terms that whatever a spouse acquired before or during marriage will belong to him/her exclusively and that assets in a spouse?s name belong to that spouse exclusively.

If the spouses do not sign a prenuptial, their assets are governed by the community-property provisions of the Civil Code (Articles 1400 to 1496). Spouses are 50-50 owners of all matrimonial assets. These assets consist of the following:

1) All moveable properties (in essence, everything but real estate) belonging to either spouse at the time of the marriage or acquired by either of them during marriage, even by inheritance or gift unless the testator or donor has expressed otherwise.

2) All income from properties belonging exclusively for whatever reason to either spouse.

3) All immovable properties (real estate) acquired by either spouse during marriage.

To translate this into simple terms, without a ?prenup,? whatever money, stocks, bonds, vehicles, credits, etc. (everything but real estate) you may have on the day of the marriage, is split 50-50 with your spouse when you say ?yes, I do?. If your parents leave you $1,000,000 in their will and they do not expressly or implicitly state that this is for you alone, and not for your spouse, then your spouse will get 50%. (Fifteen years ago, I actually dealt with a case like this involving an American couple living in the DR).

You may ask why this is so. The answer is that we are, I believe, the only country in the world still governed by the original provisions of the Napoleonic Code, which dates from 1804, a time when wealth was almost exclusively ?immovable?, i.e., real estate, and therefore it was not considered of importance that all ?moveables? be part of the matrimonial community. In France, the code was amended a long time ago to include only properties acquired during marriage as community property.

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During your marriage, income received from any asset goes into the matrimonial community, no matter whether the asset belongs to just one spouse or to both (Article 1401-2 of the Civil Code). After your demise, the personal asset goes to your heirs and so does the income from that asset.

Real estate acquired by one of the spouses before marriage remains the separate property of that spouse.

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Inheritance rights over real property in the Dominican Republic is governed by Dominican law.

Real estate purchased before marriage is not community property, meaning that if your father purchased it before marriage, upon his death, the property belongs to his children.

Forced heirship, in your case, means that since your father had 3 children, 3/4 of his assets are reserved to these 3 children upon his death. Any will giving to a third party (including the wife) more than the remaining 25%, will be reduced to the allowed 25%.

All children, legitimate or illegitimate, have the same rights in the inheritance.

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Malibook said:

SallyAnne, don't pay any attention to all of the nay sayers.

It is perfectly normal to marry someone you have never met and plan to live in a country you have never visited.

Please keep us posted and feel free to add some wedding pictures to the gallery.

Congratulations and good luck.

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Escott said:

I concur, what are you going to name the babies? Are you going to take a poll on DR1 for choice of names? That will be fun and very enjoyable. You will probably boost the hits that DR1 gets and for that they will probably give you a big wedding present.

Congrats and don't forget to post pictures of the kids also.

Mazel Tov!

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But you must save for your ticket first.
Then save a few thousands US for your cedula.
Then save at least 4000-6000 more to be able to live here for 4-6 months.
Then also save the same amount to support his family, friends, himself to the kind of living he and them would expect when you arrive.
Also save for your touristcard, and departuretax and for gifts to bring.
Save a few thousand dollars for the wedding.

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