Mexican divorce in 1967

[jojobul]

What is the name of your state? New Jersey
I married in New York in 1959. In 1967 I applied for a legal separation in New York, and then a Mexican divorce that same year.
I am now 64 yrs old, never married, and reside in New Jersey. Iwill be applying for SS soon.
A friend told me that my Mexican divorce may not be legal. Is this true?
My x husband remarried in New York 1976. I recently asked him if he brought the divorce papers with him to get married.
He told me that at that time he had no money to give the Lawyer for copies.
He also told me he lied on the marriage forms and said he was never married.
Where do I stand, and where does he stand now?
I did not mention to him that our divorce may not be legal.

Yes I do have the Mexican Divorce papers. I didn't give them to him when he remarried in 1976. I told him to go to the lawyer and get his own. He never did. I still have the papers.
We both signed the papers in NY. I went alone to Mexico to finalize.

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state? New Jersey
I married in New York in 1959. In 1967 I applied for a legal separation in New York, and then a Mexican divorce that same year.
I am now 64 yrs old, never married, and reside in New Jersey. Iwill be applying for SS soon.
A friend told me that my Mexican divorce may not be legal. Is this true?
My x husband remarried in New York 1976. I recently asked him if he brought the divorce papers with him to get married.
He told me that at that time he had no money to give the Lawyer for copies.
He also told me he lied on the marriage forms and said he was never married.
Where do I stand, and where does he stand now?
I did not mention to him that our divorce may not be legal.

Well, your ex husband committed fraud when he lied on his marriage license.
However, unless you are planning to marry why are you concerned about this?
Yes, there have been some Mexican divorces that turned out not to be legal, but certainly not all of them were/are.

 

[rmet4nzkx]

I did a little research on this subject and NY has not always recognized Mexican Divorces, and there may also be some tax consequences and community property issues as well. Since you don't have any copies of the papers and you "ex" husband didn't pay for the papers, it may be difficult to confirm. Were both of you present for the divorce and signed the papers that accepted Mexican jurisdiciton? You would not be responsible for his fraud.

 

[kat1963]

I'm guessing this has to do with SS benefits & being able to claim the higher amount made by a spouse if married over 10 years...
KAT

 

[jojobul]

Mexican divorce 1967

I did a little research on this subject and NY has not always recognized Mexican Divorces, and there may also be some tax consequences and community property issues as well. Since you don't have any copies of the papers and you "ex" husband didn't pay for the papers, it may be difficult to confirm. Were both of you present for the divorce and signed the papers that accepted Mexican jurisdiciton? You would not be responsible for his fraud.

Yes I do have the Mexican Divorce papers. I didn't give them to him when he remarried in 1976. I told him to go to the lawyer and get his own. He never did. I still have the papers.
We both signed the papers in NY. I went alone to Mexico to finalize.

 

[rmet4nzkx]

Essentially the only thing you have is a legal separation in NY.
Why, if you had a legal separation in NY did you go to Mexico for a divorce, instead of getting a divorce in NY?

It would take some confirmaiton to see if the divorce is legal, especially since only one of you went to Mexico. Do the papers that both of you signed state that you accept the jurisdiction of Mexico? The actual Judge that signed the papers would also have to be checked out as many divorces were signed by persons, including judges, not authorized by the Mexican government to issue divorce decrees. There might be some argument that your husband didn't produce the divorce papers that he didn't recognize or consent to them or that he was intent on comitting some sort of fraud especially since he fialed to obtain his own copies of the decree. This was not an annulment, it was a divorce and as such needed to be declared when he went to get married, at which time, it would have been decided whether or not the State of NY accepted this as a divorce or not. Thus, in failing to disclose his marriage to you, he is technically a bygamist in the eyes of the state of NY. This may in fact entitile you to some claim to benefits and some tax consequences for him. I would suggest that you consult a family law attorney to investigate what your next move might be.

 

[nextwife]

Hmmm. I'm not sure that failing to produce copies of a divorce decree, IF IT IS THE CASE THAT THE DIVORCE WAS LEGAL IN MEXICO, could constitute fraud. If there was a legal divorce, whether he obtained his own copies or not, remarrying without producing copies is not any kind of fraud. My hubby didn't have copies of his decree either when we remarried. Does she know that the marriage license did NOT list his first marriage? WE don't know at all that he failed to disclose the first marriage. My hubby didn't have copies of his NY divorce when we married, although a couple years later he did pick up a set on a trip to NY, but didn't have them at the time. That did not stop him from listing his earlier marriage on our marriage license.

Of course. if it was never a legal divorce, then there was no divorce.

 

[rmet4nzkx]

Hmmm. I'm not sure that failing to produce copies of a divorce decree, IF IT IS THE CASE THAT THE DIVORCE WAS LEGAL IN MEXICO, could constitute fraud. If there was a legal divorce, whether he obtained his own copies or not, remarrying without producing copies is not any kind of fraud. My hubby didn't have copies of his decree either when we remarried. Does she know that the marriage license did NOT list his first marriage? WE don't know at all that he failed to disclose the first marriage. My hubby didn't have copies of his NY divorce when we married, although a couple years later he did pick up a set on a trip to NY, but didn't have them at the time. That did not stop him from listing his earlier marriage on our marriage license.

Of course. if it was never a legal divorce, then there was no divorce.

Nexie,
OP in her first post states the following: "My x husband remarried in New York 1976. I recently asked him if he brought the divorce papers with him to get married.
He told me that at that time he had no money to give the Lawyer for copies.
He also told me he lied on the marriage forms and said he was never married."
We only know what OP tells us that her husband said, that he lied on the marriage license. That would constitute fraud in and of it's self in addition to the legality or existance of a divorce recognized by the state of NY. This is totally different than your example with your husband's divorce since it was not a Mexican divorce and he told the truth on the marriage certificate.
There are still too many questions left unanswered and which we cannot answer here.

 

[JETX]

ACTUALLY.....
We have no idea if your Mexican divorce is valid, nor if your husbands subsequent marriage may be voided due to his being married at the time. This is far too complex an issue for anyone to properly advise on an online legal forum. I strongly suggest you have a local attorney review ALL the documents and facts. And contact your 'ex' in writing as to his potential problem.

 

[rmet4nzkx]

ACTUALLY.....
We have no idea if your Mexican divorce is valid, nor if your husbands subsequent marriage may be voided due to his being married at the time. This is far too complex an issue for anyone to properly advise on an online legal forum. I strongly suggest you have a local attorney review ALL the documents and facts. And contact your 'ex' in writing as to his potential problem.

I will be interested to see how this pans out in the end, so many questions to check out. The IRS apparently loves these cases.

 

[LdiJ]

I will be interested to see how this pans out in the end, so many questions to check out. The IRS apparently loves these cases.

However I must say, that if the OP's motive for researching this is the hope that she can collect higher SS benefits upon retirement...its disappointing.

She certainly has believed and held herself to be divorced for all of these years. She was the one who went to Mexico for the divorce....and since an NY attorney was involved at the time she must have believed that she was getting legally divorced, and I suspect her ex-husband believed it as well.

Opening this up now has the potential to devistate a lot of lives, particularly if her ex and his wife had children during their 28 year marriage.