Thursday 13 December 2007

Cross border pre-nups and divorce

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In the USA you may need several pre-nups to take into account the various complexities across the different states. You may also need a team of lawyers to put a pre-nup together. Most US
lawyers can master three or four jurisdictions but that is their limit.

Key things to watch out for are: where to divorce. Where clients marry rarely matters but take advice about which divorce court you decide on. Each varies wildly and favours one or other party dependent. Although California laws still apply in the USA, wherever you choose to get divorced.

The key thing, advisors say, is to act quickly in divorce. The person who files the papers first gets the divorce heard in the jurisdiction of their choice. One quick thinking wife rang an estranged husband and said she wanted to reconcile. She arranged to meet at their UK house. He heard a knock on the door and was immediately served divorce papers. This means her divorce will be heard in a court favourable to wives and equal sharing and one that doesn’t believe in pre-nups. Pretty unpleasant stuff but it illustrated the point that moving quickly is essential (and perhaps being wary of UK visits without officially filing if you are a husband planning to divorce!)

http://www.kattenlaw.com/

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