The Indian court system does not properly recognize divorces issued in the United States.  A divorced wife can flee on her own, or even worse with the parties’ children to India.  Once there, she can file dowry harassment charges against her “ex-husband.”  In addition, India is not yet ratified the Hague convention and will not act to send abducted children back to the United States. 

There has been a rise in the number of dowry harassment cases filed against non-residen Indians (NRIs).  India has been used as a haven for ex-wives who are disatisfied with the result of their United States divorce case.  Once in India they utilize dowry laws which are peculiar to the Indian legal system and do not have a US counterpart. 

Spouses who are NRIs or are divorcing NRIs should discuss their case with a competent attorney who understands these complex international law issues.

The New York Times published an article regarding a top London divorce attorney named Raymondy Tooth. The article describes how Mr. Tooth makes a living representing the wives of wealthy British men.
The article describes a case in which Mr. Tooth represented Ms. Myerson, whose husband was worth around $44 million at the time of the divorce. Ms. Myerson elected to take less than half of the assets in case and some properties, while Mr. Myerson received $21.7 million worth of stock in his investment fund. Mr. Myerson was very disappointed when, some months later, the global economic downturn reduced his stock holdings by 90%. He filed a petition with the court to overturn the property distribution and make his ex-wife return the property that she received. The court declined to do so.
Under Oregon law, property distributions in a divorce cannot be modified post-judgment, as opposed to support awards and custody/parenting time determinations. It is crucial to have competent legal counsel’s advice in deciding on a strategy for division of assets. Mr. Tooth considered the volatility of the market, while Mr. Myerson just looked at the bottom line, to his misfortune.
If you have questions about the division of assets and property awards in an Oregon divorce, contact Stephens Margolin P.C. for a consultation.

If you move after a divorce or custody case, how can you preserve your relationship with your children? We live in a mobile society. After a divorce case, sometimes parents move across town, to another town, or out of state. Sometimes the demands of a job keep a parent from having regular contact with their kids. Whatever the reason for the move or distance, parenting plans are harder to implement if the parents don’t live close to each other. Depending on the distance of the move, a parent may end up with longer, less frequent blocks of time with the children. The problem with long distance parenting is that longer blocks of time are no substitute for frequent interaction, especially for younger children. Virtually all parenting plans call for regular telephone contact, but many parents find it hard to engage young children for any length of time on the phone.

Many of our clients report that they have emotionally richer and longer communications with children when they video conference rather than just call. We recommend the use of a web cam and free video conferencing to clients with long distance parenting issues. A well drafted parenting plan should address the use of free video conferencing, include the right to use and the obligation to facilitate electronic communication (e.g. maintain Internet, a working camera, etc.) The feedback we get from our clients using web cams for videoconferencing has been overwhelmingly positive. If you travel for work, or do not live close to your children, talk to your lawyer about putting video conferencing language in your parenting plan.

Divorce usually involves a division of property. ORS  107.107(1)(f) describes what kind of property can be divided by the court. The question of how property should be divided is tricky. Do you swap an asset of roughly equal value for another? How do you equalize the retirements? How do you divide the personal property? There are many good ways to accomplish a just and proper division. One really, really bad way caught my eye in a Reuters news feed. A Serb farmer, apparently unhappy with the court’s divorce ruling that his property be divided, went about physically cutting the property in half with a grinder. The hoes, the cattle scales, the sowing machine, all cut in half. The farmer was perplexed by what to do with the cow.

“I still haven’t decided how to split the cow,” he told the newspaper. “She should just say what she wants — the part with the horns or the part with the tail.”

A surprisingly common “divorce myth” we hear in our practice is the belief that you can file for divorce immediately on moving to Oregon (or any state.) Oregon, like most states, has a residency requirement you must meet before you file for divorce. There is a lot of misinformation among people wanting to file for divorce regarding if they must wait to file, and for how long. Part of the reason for the misinformation is because there are a few exceptions to the waiting period.

The residency requirement is located in ORS 107.075. What do you have to do to become a resident? Oregon considers you a resident if you live in Oregon and intend to remain in Oregon. It is where you have the intent of returning after an absence from the state(such as military service, extended travel, school, etc.)

For most residents, there is a 6 month waiting period prior to being able to file for divorce or annulment. For people married in or out of Oregon pursuing a divorce or annulment based on “irreconcilable differences,” one party to the divorce must be a resident (or domiciled) in Oregon continuously for six months prior to filing for divorce.

A much smaller group of residents don’t have to wait. For people married in Oregon, if the reason for your divorce or annulment is (1) bigamy, or (2) being too closely related to your spouse, or (3) being incapable of making a contract or consenting to the marriage because you are too young or don’t understand the consequences, or (4) you were forced or deceived into marriage, you can file immediately on residing or domiciling in Oregon.

The International Herald Tribute runs this story about increasing divorce rates in India, a place where arranged marriages are customary and, historically, long-lasting. The reasons for the increase? Women’s financial independence, weakening of taboos, laws permitting divorce, and Western-style expectations of love. Interesting stuff, particularly for Oregon’s large East Indian population.

China View reports today that China’s civil affair department registered an increase in marriages and divorces in 2007. Approximately 1.4 million couples divorced last year, a year on year increase of 18.2 percent, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs. This rate could be much higher because the Ministry does not report state-sanctioned divorces in the figure. China’s divorce rate has been increasing since 1980. Sociologists attribute the increase to the fast changing society and challenges to traditional concepts of marriage. China’s divorce rate is still far below the US divorce rate of approximately 50%. A new law in 2003 simplified divorce filings and allows for a same day divorce with a filing fee of 10 yuan ($1.36 US).

We’re often asked questions about out of state or international matters, where one party lives in another state or country, but they’re involved in a family law matter in Oregon. Or sometimes, people move to Oregon and immediately want to file for dissolution of marriage or custody here and are surprised to find out that it’s not quite so simple as just going down to the courthouse and filing the appropriate paperwork. We’ve put together a list of some of the most common questions we’re asked about out of state and international matters, and we’ll answer them in our next few blog posts.