Conflict of Divorce Laws - The Problems

The Problems

When people's lives were mostly confined to a single state, local court orders for maintenance and child support, and for contact with, and parental responsibility for, any children of the family were administered through a relatively trouble-free system. But, as the borders between states became increasingly porous, people moved in search of employment, to build businesses or, simply, because they could. The marriage of people with different nationalities or domiciles therefore became more common. This has produced serious problems for the parties and for the court systems which are now expected to accept jurisdiction over persons sometimes only transiently within their territorial boundaries, and to enforce the judgments and orders of foreign courts. These more technical problems can be made worse by any personal animosity between the parties which contributed to the marital breakdown. In some more extreme cases, spouses move themselves and/or their assets to other jurisdictions to evade their obligations or liabilities, or they move to establish personal jurisdiction so that they can engage in forum shopping. Hence, suppose a German man marries a Turkish woman and they live in Poland until the breakdown, at which point the wife goes to Nevada because she has heard that the courts of the U.S. allow quick divorces and give generous maintenance and property settlement awards. When he hears of this plan, the husband moves himself and all his assets to the Republic of Ireland because he has heard that Irish courts do not recognise and enforce U.S. divorce decrees and their ancillary orders.