Although the Supreme Court recently struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and the federal government now recognizes federal marriage benefits, same-sex couples are finding there are still issues if the marriage leads to divorce.
Indiana does not recognise same sex marriage, so a couple travelled to Iowa to get married. However, they now wish to get divorced, but because of Indiana’s state laws, they cannot divorce in Indiana because their marriage does not legally exist. Therefore if they wish to divorce, they would have to return to Iowa, but their also need to have a minimum of one years residency in the state before they are free to do so.
We have discussed at the length over the last few week’s the implications of the DOMA decision, and the issues this could create, not only for state marriages and divorces, but for international marriages and divorces too. and this is a perfect example of issues we forsee.
Under Thailand divorce law, if the defendant spouse (the “Respondent”) is not present or will not return to Thailand or appear in Court to defend the divorce, a person seeking divorce may still be able to proceed provided that the defendant spouse has been provided proper legal notice of the divorce action. Service must be applied through a Thai court if your spouse is not in Thailand and a substitute service may be allowed in certain circumstances. If a Defendant spouse does not respond to service from the court it may be possible for the divorce, based on certain conditions, to precede based on default.
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