Getting married after being divorced abroad

LR55

Hi,



Can someone please shed some light on my situation?

Basically I was married and divorced in New York.
I wanted to get married here in Dublin and was told that because I could not prove domicile in NY, the divorce is not recognised in Ireland.
I have been told by my solicitor that I would be required to go thru the courts to do this.
On the other hand I have been informed by person who works in the Civil Registration Office that he has seen on many occasions a person going back to where he or she got divorced, getting married again and the new marriage certificate superseding the previous divorce.

I'm finding it hard to get a definitive answer on it.

Any help or information would be greatly appreciated!

Peregrinus

Your NY divorce is recognised in Ireland if either you or your first spouse was domiciled in NY, or in a jurisdiction which would recognise the NY divorce.

As a rule of thumb everyone starts out with a domicile of origin at birth, based on where they were born and/or where their parents were domiciled. It's possible to change your domicile of origin for what's called a domicile of choice. This involves moving to another jurisdiction and settling there with the intention of remaining their permanently.

You don't give any information in your post about where either you or your first spouse were born, etc, so it's very hard to know what kind of evidence the registrar would want in order to accept that either of you was domiciled in NY at the time of your divorce, or in a jurisdiction which would recognise an NY divorce. But if your first spouse wasn't Irish, your most promised avenue of exploration is to see what case can be made to say that they were domiciled in NY, or in a place which would recognise an NY divorce. Where were they born? Where did they settle? Other than marrying you, did they have any connection with Ireland?

LR55

Peregrinus wrote: »

Your NY divorce is recognised in Ireland if either you or your first spouse was domiciled in NY, or in a jurisdiction which would recognise the NY divorce.

As a rule of thumb everyone starts out with a domicile of origin at birth, based on where they were born and/or where their parents were domiciled. It's possible to change your domicile of origin for what's called a domicile of choice. This involves moving to another jurisdiction and settling there with the intention of remaining their permanently.

You don't give any information in your post about where either you or your first spouse were born, etc, so it's very hard to know what kind of evidence the registrar would want in order to accept that either of you was domiciled in NY at the time of your divorce, or in a jurisdiction which would recognise an NY divorce. But if your first spouse wasn't Irish, your most promised avenue of exploration is to see what case can be made to say that they were domiciled in NY, or in a place which would recognise an NY divorce. Where were they born? Where did they settle? Other than marrying you, did they have any connection with Ireland?

Hi Peregrinus,

Thanks for your response-just to clarify
My ex-wife does not want to help and I have been unable to prove domicile to the civil registrations board after providing sworn affidavit.
So my next step here is to go thru the court system. I'm looking at that possibility now.
But I'm also looking at going back to NY and marrying there.
Personally I can't see why that would not be acceptable here in Ireland. It would mean I wouldn't need to prove domicile here to grey married in Ireland and I would have a full length marriage certificate from NY which is as far as I know all I would ever need to show.

Peregrinus

I see how you're thinking, but what it would create legal uncertainty. If, as a matter of Irish law, you're not free to marry, then any second marriage you celebrate in NY will not be recognised in Ireland which, depending on how future events unfold, could come back to bite either you or your second spouse. You might think that the chances of this are not very high, but the whole point of being married is to secure legal, administrative etc treatment which recognises and gives effect to your relationship, and going through a ceremony that won't be recognised in Ireland doesn't achieve that. Or, at least, doesn't achieve it reliably.

caoire

Spanish Divorce and Irish Civil Registration Office - Divorce Clearance

Hi I am getting married in Ireland and have a Spanish divorce I got in 2010. I went to the Civil Registration Office to get permission to get remarried but they would not give me divorce clearance. They say my divorce decree mentions 5 days to appeal and it's not the final divorce decree. So I obtained a Spanish solicitor who confirmed that my divorce decree is normal, and that the 5 days appeal is standard on the divorces from Spain. The court holds on to the divorce decree for 5 days and then issues it, and the final judgement in entered on the Civil Registry in Spain. The solicitor obtained an official copy of the Spanish Civil Registry in June, 6 years after the divorce was issued stating that my divorce was final and no appeal was made. I have given all the documentation to the Irish Civil Registration Office in English certified by legal translators. But they won't except this and are saying that my divorce must not have any mention of appeal, but my Spanish solicitor says I won't get that from the courts in Spain.

Has anybody experienced this problem with a Spanish Divorce been recognised by the Irish Civil Registration Office?

Any advise and thanks for the replies in advance!

caoire

Hi, just an update.

Got married in December!

What I needed was "Certificate referred to in Article 39 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 2201/ 2003 of 27 November 2003 (1) concerning judgments in matrimonial matters".

Had to hire a Spanish solicitor to obtain the document which is a standard EU form, got it in English and Spanish from the court office were I got my divorce from. Only cost was the Spanish solictor.

It was my Irish solictor who suggested it to me and the Irish Civil Registry Office didn't suggest anything or help at all during the process.

I submitted the document and got my divorce clearence in the end.

Hope this helps anybody in this situation and best of luck!