Married in India, both parties mutually consented for divorce in US. Issues in India?
Respected Attorneys,
I am reposting my original question with all the facts to get an accurate picture as I am getting contradictory answers from different attorneys on here and not sure what should be the way moving forward for me.
I was married in India and we moved to the US soon after. We recently got divorced here in the US. The petition was filed jointly by both of us where my wife was the respondent, Both husband and wife has participated in the divorce proceedings, the case was filed in the court located in area where both husband and wife lived together as couple so the right court had jurisdiction, both parties had legal representation, both parties consented to the divorce by signing all the involved paperwork with notary and the divorce is now finalized, the final divorce decree was issued by the court with the consent of both the parties, neither party contested the divorce and neither it was a contested divorce. I have a few questions pertaining to this:
1) Since this divorce was done mutually by consent of both parties , does this divorce will be valid in India according to the Hindu Marraige act of mutual consent divorce?
2) since both parties have voluntarily submitted themselves to the jurisdiction of the US court and actively participated in the divorce proceedings, does this end the matter here or can it be challenged in the Indian court on the basis of "no fault" divorce not recognized by the HMA? On this forum, few respectable attorneys have indicated that in recent HC judgements, such claims were denied. Does this still hold true?
3) I am seeing responses by the lawyers for questions raised on this forum for NRI couples getting divorced in US, UK etc on basis of mutual consent about their decree being valid in India as well, so how is my case any different? The respondent wife had a lawyer of her own so her legal rights were protected, she actively participated in the divorce proceedings and was present during the issue of the final decree and consented the grant of divorce, doesn't that qualify for mutual consent? If it does not, then what does? How does Indian courts define mutual consent? How else we demonstrate mutual consent?
This marriage is dissolved by the US court, what legal recourse is Available to me in India if it will be challenged on basis of "no fault" not being valid per HMA?
4) Am I still required to instigate any necessary legal steps for validation? Getting her to cooperate for any signatures will be very challenging and no parties are in touch with each other anymore.
My intention here is to not compare answers but make sure I am in the clear for any future issues regarding this, and if not what necessary steps I need to take in India.
Please help.
Asked 3 years ago in Family Law
Religion: Hindu
Ajay sir,
Through this platform, I am not able to schedule a call with you.
Can you please share your contact information i.e. your phone number, email address so either me or my family in India will be able to contact you for this matter. Will it be possible to take care of procedural necessities in India with your help as my family is also located in Maharashtra?
Thank you.
Asked 3 years ago