Foreign Marriage and abandonment

[tecman10]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New Hampshire
I am an American citizen and married a Chinese woman, in China, in September of 2015. We spent less than 3 weeks together since. She realized there was too much of an age difference and abandoned me. She does not communicate with me and will not tell me where she is living. She said she would agree to divorce and then went into hiding. Since she never accepted me can this marriage be annulled? If not, how do I start the proceedings for divorce due to abandonment? We have no children or marital assets to divide. I have been unemployed since we were married.

 

[johnmaxwell]

Help

Hi, please tell me how to create a thread?

 

[FlyingRon]

I suspect you're going to have to get a lawyer who understands Chinese law. It's outside the scope of this forum.

There are limitations on filing in NH court, and you've not indicated enough information to see if that's a possibility.
Have you personally lived in the state for a year?
Did any of those three weeks result in you two being in NH?


JOHNMAXWELL: Navigate to the list of threads (not inside any particular thread) for the topic you are interested in. For example, https://forum.freeadvice.com/divorce-separation-annulment-36/ THere's a giant POST NEW THREAD button at the top.

 

[LdiJ]

I suspect you're going to have to get a lawyer who understands Chinese law. It's outside the scope of this forum.

There are limitations on filing in NH court, and you've not indicated enough information to see if that's a possibility.
Have you personally lived in the state for a year?
Did any of those three weeks result in you two being in NH?


JOHNMAXWELL: Navigate to the list of threads (not inside any particular thread) for the topic you are interested in. For example, https://forum.freeadvice.com/divorce-separation-annulment-36/ THere's a giant POST NEW THREAD button at the top.

Why would a resident of NH need to know anything about Chinese law? All he wants is a divorce. There are no children or assets to consider.

 

[FlyingRon]

Why would a resident of NH need to know anything about Chinese law? All he wants is a divorce. There are no children or assets to consider.

Because nothing he has said indicates, he has standing to sue for his annulment or divorce in New Hampshire court. It appears he travelled to China, married there, and then got abandoned there after three weeks.

There are two ways you can have jurisdiction in NH court:
1. The marriage took place in NH -or-
2. The parties AND the alleged cause occurred in NH

Well #1 is right out as he said he married in China.,

#2 is problematic as well. Jurisdiction over the parties requires either both to be domiciled in NH (the wife is not), that the plaintiff is domiciled there and the defendant is personally served (not likely to happen when she is at some unknown location in China), or that he has been domiciled in NH for at least a year. Then you have to deal with the cause issue. If he was married and dumped all in China, it's not clear any cause of action has occurred in NH.

There's a tiny chance that he can get jurisdiction in NH, which is why I asked the specific questions I did,.

 

[Zigner]

There are two ways you can have jurisdiction in NH court:
1. The marriage took place in NH -or-
2. The parties AND the alleged cause occurred in NH

That is incorrect:

[SUB]http://www.courts.state.nh.us/fdpp/divorce_petition.htm[/SUB]

Jurisdiction: One of the following must apply to file for divorce in New Hampshire: 1) both parties live in New Hampshire, 2) the petitioner (the spouse starting the divorce action) has lived in New Hampshire for one year, or 3) the petitioner lives in New Hampshire and their spouse can be served with divorce papers in New Hampshire.

 

[FlyingRon]

That is incorrect:

[SUB]http://www.courts.state.nh.us/fdpp/divorce_petition.htm[/SUB]

Jurisdiction: One of the following must apply to file for divorce in New Hampshire: 1) both parties live in New Hampshire, 2) the petitioner (the spouse starting the divorce action) has lived in New Hampshire for one year, or 3) the petitioner lives in New Hampshire and their spouse can be served with divorce papers in New Hampshire.

It is NOT inccorect.

The first part of my statement covers 458:3 which pretty much says if the marriage took place in NH, you can get it dissolved there regardless of the residency of the parites.
The second part of my statement comes out of 458:4 which I pretty much explained.

458:4 Limitation. – The jurisdiction of the court to grant divorce is limited to cases where there is jurisdiction over the parties and of the alleged cause as defined in RSA 458:5 and 458:6.​

Note the word AND int hat statement. As I explained in my post (and you repeated with the paraphrase you lifted from some non-normative site), there's are residency issues which the poster did not give enough answer to tell. If he lived in NH for over a year, then he is probably meeting it under the third case. However, if he has lived there less time, the fact he can't serve the other party is going to preclude him getting jurisdiction.

Then you have the other issue as to whether the cause for action occured in NH:

458:6 Over Cause of Action. – Jurisdiction of the cause for divorce exists when it wholly arose or accrued while the plaintiff was domiciled in the state, and not otherwise.​

Again, it's unclear with his brief explanation if he meets that requirement.

THIS IS WHY I ASKED THE FOLLOWUP QUESTOINS. It remains to be seen if he can get this heard in NH.

 

[Zigner]

There are two ways you can have jurisdiction in NH court:
1. The marriage took place in NH -or-
2. The parties AND the alleged cause occurred in NH

AGAIN, the quoted text above is incorrect. Your further clarification does not change the fact that your earlier post was incorrect. I was not speaking to whether or not the OP will be able to get a NH divorce. I was simply pointing out that the quoted statement that you made was incorrect.

http://www.courts.state.nh.us/fdpp/servicecenters/checklists/checklistfiles/Divorce-with-no-kids.pdf (First item on the checklist)

from http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/rsa/html/XLIII/458/458-5.htm
458:5 Over Parties. – Jurisdiction of the parties exists in the following cases only:
I. Where both parties were domiciled in the state when the action was commenced.
II. Where the plaintiff was so domiciled and the defendant was personally served with process within the state.
III. Where the plaintiff was domiciled in the state for one year next preceding the time when the action was commenced.
Where the domiciled plaintiff has filed a petition, the non-domiciled defendant may have affirmative relief upon filing a cross petition.



I understand that you are reluctant to admit that you "misspoke", but the fact of the matter is that what you wrote (as quoted above) was incorrect.

ETA: I think you may be confused about when the cause of action for the divorce arises. In this case, the cause of action arises when the plaintiff decides he wants the divorce. What is the evidence of that decision? The filing for the divorce. (That covers 458.6)

 

[FlyingRon]

You haven't indicated anything that I've said that is incorrect. #1 iscorrect under 458:3. #2 is a shortened way of saying what 458:4 says. The parties and the cauuse both need to meet the jurisdiction test. You keep quoting some paraphrase of the statute on a form. WHAT MATTERS IS THE ACTUAL STATUTE. Every thing I said is supported by the actual statute.

If the marriage didn't take place in NH, you must meet the NH jurisdiction over the parties and the cause of action.
That's what the law says. What you seem to have your self in abunch about is that the term "jurisdiction over the parties" may well mean that only one of the is domiciled in NH.

Now if the original poster hasn't driven off by here and answerse the two questions I asked:

How long was he domiciled in NH

and

At any time between the marriage and the disappearnace orf the spouse were they in NH.

We might be able to tell him if he can get action in NH courts.

 

[Zigner]

458:3 doesn't apply to divorces - it's for annulments, and I think we can both agree that the OP doesn't qualify for an annulment.

Your statement (the one I quoted above) stated that the methods you listed were the ONLY ways that jurisdiction can be established. As such, your statement is wrong. That's not commenting about the OP's situation, simply about your incorrect statement of the law in New Hampshire. You did go on to clarify your intent, which is good.

I agree that we really don't have enough information from the OP to make any informed decision about the jurisdiction matter in his situation.

 

[Zigner]

At any time between the marriage and the disappearnace orf the spouse were they in NH.

This question doesn't really matter. "They" didn't need to be in New Hampshire at any time. If the OP has resided there for a year, then the court can hear it. This is going to be a no-fault matter (irreconcilable differences causing the irremediable breakdown of the marriage.) As such, the only time that it can be proven that the plaintiff has decided that there are irreconcilable differences is the point in time that he actually files for divorce.

 

[FlyingRon]

This question doesn't really matter. "They" didn't need to be in New Hampshire at any time. If the OP has resided there for a year, then the court can hear it. This is going to be a no-fault matter (irreconcilable differences causing the irremediable breakdown of the marriage.) As such, the only time that it can be proven that the plaintiff has decided that there are irreconcilable differences is the point in time that he actually files for divorce.

What part of "Jurisdiction over the cause of action" do you not understand?

 

[Zigner]

What part of "Jurisdiction over the cause of action" do you not understand?

I've explained it...twice. The cause of action is irreconcilable differences (ie: no-fault). The only empirical proof of this occurring is when the OP decides there are irreconcilable differences, as indicated by the filing.

What do you believe the cause of action will be for this OP?

 

[davew128]

Obligatory comment here to the OP: She love you long time huh?