How does a divorce granted by a foreign court effect a wedding that took place in Colombia. ?

By
Esteban R.
Colombian lawyer
Areas of work: family, civil, commercial and immigration law.
Email: lawyerscolombia at yahoo.com

According to the Colombian civil code and the law 1 of 1976, the couple who were married in Colombia but acquired the divorce in a foreign court, will have a special rule in order to make the dissolution of marriage legal in Colombian and therefore the end of the union.

According to the legal text of the law 1/76, when the divorce is obtained outside Colombia and the marriage took place in inside Colombia, the dissolution will not produce the effects unless the cause that originated the separation can be applied in Colombia, and the defendant has been given notice of the lawsuit for making the foreign dissolution acceptable in a Colombia jurisdiction and under Colombian law.

In real life, for example when a US citizen gets married in Colombia and after he returns to his country, he decides to get divorced in an American court; the following steps must be done:

First, he should legalize the dissolution of marriage that determined the divorce and get the apostle stamp.

Second: To file a petition in the Colombian Supreme Court asking the justices to accept the decision taken in US.
This process is called exequatur. In legal terms, it is an institution that protects the sovereignty of the Colombian judicial system, making a restriction on the immediate effect that any foreign decision could have.
Once the Supreme Court has authorized the exequatur, the foreign dissolution of marriage will be sent to a Colombian family court who will order the registration of the divorce on the birth record of the Colombian citizen and on the Colombian wedding registration.

Some people think the divorce can be registered with a Colombian consulate in the foreign country without further requirements, but this is not true or legal. CONSULATES ARE NOT AUTHORIZED BY THE LAW TO GRANT DIVORCE, they simply register the Colombian judicial decision on the wedding registration once they receive the order from the Court.

On the other hand, when a marriage is celebrated in a foreign country but registered in the Colombian consulate, the divorce obtained in the overseas court can be write down without any more requirements.

If you need some assistance on a related matter or in legal issues, don’t hesitate to contact me

Esteban R.
Colombian lawyer
Email: lawyerscolombia at yahoo.com

By lawyer CO on Aug 23, 2007, 12:31 in Friendly Talkzone.

ahda007 says on Aug 27, 2007, 15:33:

Hi esteban. I have a few questions questions i need to ask you for your proffesional advices as to how to get a proper divorced paper now that I am in Canada and she is in Colombia.

Firstly, I will like to let you know that I am Canadain and not American. Does that same laws apply?

Secondly, I have cancelled the sponsorship and sent my consent for the divorce to take place by getting a stamp from the embasy of colombia in canada to my ex-wife in colombia as she requested to then get a legal divorce paper from the same notary that we married in Medellin. Does that sound like the right way to do it?

Thirdly, what lost can I possible from the draq getting a divorce paper? we verbally and mentally divorced a year ago but the papers have never been done, and everytime I rushed for the papers, she always had some other legal papers to require from me to make in Canada to send to her.

Any advice will truly be appreaciated.