united-states divorce multiple-jurisdiction
How is a USA marriage dissolved if neither spouse is resident in the USA?
<p>Consider the following sequence of events:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>A couple get married in a St. Louis, Missouri courtroom in 2002 (at which time they are residents in the USA).</p></li>
<li><p>The couple begin living in a foreign country in the following year. They register their marriage in the foreign country through the appropriate legal mechanisms</p></li>
<li><p>Within three years, they are no longer US residents.</p></li>
<li><p>The couple separates after four years. They hire a local lawyer to annul the marriage in the foreign country, and this is done.</p></li>
<li><p>The marriage is still valid in the USA, according to a US Embassy.</p></li>
<li><p>A significant time later, the couple wants to dissolve the marriage in the USA too. However, neither the US Embassy nor any lawyers they consult with, either overseas or in the USA, can give them a straight answer as to how to effect such a divorce. The couple is told that there are "complicated jurisdictional issues" involved. For example, Missouri law seems to require that at least one of the spouses wanting to file for divorce must be resident in Missouri.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>How is this ex-couple supposed to file their (uncontested) divorce in the USA?</p>

<p>EDIT: Let me clarify what I mean by "annulment". The marriage was registered in a notary in the foreign country so that it would have legal validity there. The "annulment" I refer to was then the standard process for "reversing" this registration, so that the marriage no longer held legal validity in the foreign country. The lawyer hired to do this actually referred to this process as a "divorce", so "annulment" was a bad choice of words on my part.</p>

<p>The general rule is that the ability to have a valid divorce has nothing to do with where the marriage was entered into, or  the citizenship of the parties. Usually, any jurisdiction with sufficient contacts with either member of the couple has jurisdiction to enter a divorce. Hence, generally, people get divorced in the place that they live.</p>

<p>The problem in this scenario is step 5. I think that it is highly likely that the U.S. Embassy is simply wrong, unless there is some serious irregularity in step 4. An annulment after four years of marriage, as opposed to a divorce, is highly irregular and would not be allowed in the vast majority of jurisdictions. But, maybe there are facts and circumstances that make it otherwise.</p>

<p>This fact pattern, while it on one hand sounds like a "for a friend" question based on real facts, also sounds like some important details that may be outcome determinative have been omitted.</p>
