The reason that the US Divorce decree even on the mutual consent ground would be no fault divorce, this reason is not acceptable in |India for the marriage solemnised in India as per Indian laws.

Hence your wife's lawyer is right that the US divorce granted on the grounds of mutual consent is not valid in India, therefore instead of taking a risk you better file the mutual consent divorce in Indi itself, which can be completed in a matter of two seeks.

Divorce by mutual consent obtained abroad is valid in India 

if wife is not agreeable file for divorce on grounds of mutual consent in India 

3) you can execute POA in favour of family member 

4) personal presence may not be necessary 

5) your virtual presence through Skype is sufficient 

1. If she is not served the summons then US decree of divorce may not be able to survive a legal challenge in an Indian court by her.

2. A foreign decree of divorce is by default valid in India, but only so long as it is not declared void by the competent court in India.

3.A decree of divorce passed by a foreign court against an Indian citizens despite failure to serve summons on him/her is frowned upon by the Indian courts.

If both of your participate in the proceedings before the US court, the no fault/mutual consent divorce granted by the US court will be considered valid in India. For this, your wife will have to travel to India to participate in these proceedings 

Mutual divorce or ex party divorce granted in India is not recognized in India. 

Therefore file such petition or contested divorce suit in India only for burying this hatchet once and for all. 

Marriage solemnnised in India as per the Hindu marriage act can only be dissolved by the parties by presenting themselves before the family court in India. Foreign courts have no jurisdiction in these cases.

But there is an option. 

If both the parties agree to divorce mutually/contest the case in the foreign courts that decree is valid if both the parties present themselves and agree to it.

In your case there is no problem. She is being mislead by her lawyer.

Dear Sir,

Yes Generally a mutual consent divorce granted by foreign Court is considered as valid, legal and binding in Indian Courts by virtue of section 13 and 14 of Code of Civil Procedure and also on account of comity of Nations. Such decree of divorce granted by foreign Courts need not to be validated in Indian Courts.

Thank you

1. The decree of divorce passed by the US Court against application jointly filed by both of you and hearings attended by both of you is considered as valid in India since it complies with the provisions of the Law of India.

2. However, the said foreign decree of divorce shall have to be validated by the appropriate District Court in India by filing an application to that effect.

3. If your wife wants MCD decree from Indian Court, you can file the same jointly and both of you shall have to appear before the Court after 6 & 1/2 months to confirm that both of you still want divorce.

4. You can get the MCD petition sent to you at USA by your wife after finalising the draft petition and then sign the petition at the specified places and get your signature attested by the appropriate officer of your local Indian Consulate. This practice will save your rigors of coming to India during the pandemic period.

5. However, your wife's lawyer will file the jointly signed petition to the Court and inform you the next date to be fixed after the cooling period of 6 months when you shall have to appear before the Court as explained above.

- As per law, the mutual divorce decree passing from the foreign court is valid in India 

- If , you have filed the joint petition in US court on mutual ground , then only decree of divorce will be valid in India, and any decree in her absence will not valid in India. 

- Since she is in India , then take her consent for mutual divorce in India after giving POA to any relative. 

As per the latest Supreme Court judgment which had held that a decree of divorce granted by a foreign court is not valid in India if the ground is not recognized by Indian law.

The foreign judgment is open to challenge where it has been obtained by fraud.When both the parties were India & married in India according to any of the India form of marriage then the dissolution of such marriage should be done through the Indian Family Court of the competent jurisdiction where the marriage took place or where either of the parties usually reside or where both the parties last resided together..Who wish to take benefit of Indian laws and legal system to avoid facing up to any foreign judicial system.

Indian Marriage solemnized in India according to Indian Matrimonial laws then the Indian courts will have territorial jurisdiction to hear & decide matter relating to this marriage & the foreign court's decision may or may not be acceptable in India hence best course is to get this marriage dissolved according to India court's decree of divorce.

The Indian Legal System categorizes Foreign Judgments and Awards from all the quarters of the world into two groups Viz.

(a) Judgments and Awards coming from the ‘Reciprocating Territories’ of India and

(b) Judgments and awards coming from the ‘Non-Reciprocating Territories’ of India.

   US is not a Reciprocating territories of India , in such a case file a declaratory suit before family court to declare that marriage is dissolved by mutual consent divorce decree passed by US court. You can use the decree only as a document .The Court further observed that while adjudicating the suit on a foreign judgment, the duty of the Court is “merely” to see that the foreign Court has applied its mind to the facts of the case and the law on the point.

It is not unusual for one of the partners to obtain a decree of divorce from a foreign
court while the other partner is either in India or in some other part of the world. The
partner who has obtained divorce may feel comfortable in the thought that the other
partner has neither protested not contested the decree of divorce. However this
comfort may be a false one. an exparty decree from US court is not valid in India.

So better to file divorce in India if possible try for mutual divorce