According to the British newspaper The Daily Mail, for ?4,500 (US$7,000), including air fares, hotel and paperwork, couples can now get an overnight divorce as part of a package holiday to the Caribbean.<\/p>\n
A divorce in Britain takes at least four months, even when both partners are keen to proceed. For no-fault divorces, couples have to undergo two years of separation before they can even initiate proceedings.<\/p>\n
However, the new service being offered by QuickdivorceUK.com completes all the paperwork in a week, provided all potential issues of conflict, from the custody of any children to dividing up property, have been agreed in writing. <\/p>\n
The company translates all necessary documents such as marriage certificates into Spanish, and then at least one of the couple must travel to Santo Domingo, where a judge can complete the process in a ten-minute hearing.<\/p>\n
If one spouse does not attend, they have to sign a power of attorney, witnessed by a British court official, stating that they consent to the split and are happy to be represented abroad by their soon-to-be ex. Under British law, divorces abroad are recognized only if one of the parties is a national, a habitual resident or is domiciled in the country where it takes place.<\/p>\n
But Aimee Edwards, who set up Bridgend-based QuickdivorceUK with her husband Benjamin, said that Dominican Republic law allows British citizens to be treated as domiciled there even if they make only a fleeting visit. She added there was strong demand for such a service and that she already had five couples waiting to use it.<\/p>\n
She said the divorce decrees would be valid in the UK, because they had been authenticated by the courts and government officials in the Dominican Republic.<\/p>\n
Other lawyers said that as there was unlikely to be a dispute in consensual divorces, British authorities were unlikely to question them. But if problems later arose, the UK courts might take a ‘hard look’ at the legality of overseas decrees.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Justice said it was trying to streamline UK divorce proceedings to cut cost and delay.<\/p>\n
There is already a trade in Dominican Republic divorces for American couples. In 1998 singer Mariah Carey ended her five-year marriage to record company chief Tommy Mottola there, and Mia Farrow and Andre Previn’s divorce papers were also filed there.<\/p>\n
www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-2099863\/Package-tour-company-offers-unhappy-couples-chance-divorce-just-minutes-Caribbean-break.html#ixzz1mA7xvcCi <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
According to the British newspaper The Daily Mail, for ?4,500 (US$7,000), including air fares, hotel and paperwork, couples can now get an overnight divorce as part of a package holiday to the Caribbean. A divorce in Britain takes at least four months, even when both partners are keen to proceed. For no-fault divorces, couples have … <\/p>\n