What Is a Divorce Decree?
A Divorce Decree is the Court’s final ruling and judgment order that marks the termination of a marriage officially.
Each Divorce Decree will be different, but the purpose of the decree generally remains same i.e. to summarize the rights and duties of each party in connection with the Divorce.
Divorce Decrees are important as the Divorce process isn’t complete until one is issued. Therefore, the party’s status as married or divorce will not be finalized until the divorce decree is completed.
Divorce proceedings that are not yet completed may have effects on different areas of life, such as debt, property possession, taxes, and employment benefits, and other legal rights.
Contents of a Divorce Decree
Divorce Decrees usually deals with issues such as:
- Division of property between the parties
- Spousal support or alimony
- Child custody, support, and visitation (if applicable)
Various financial obligations of each party (say, if there is any debt to be paid by one or more parties)
Along with these legal issues, the Divorce Decree will usually contain basic information connected with the case, such as the names of each party, the effective date of the decree, and the case number.
This helps in locating records of the Divorce Decree in the future, which are often kept by the local county records office.
The matrimonial laws differ from country to country. The issue of divorce decree not being valid crops up when the domicile of the partied is in one country and one of them obtains matrimonial relief in a foreign country. It has become a very common this of late that people after marriage migrate to different country either to stay there permanently or for temporary stay.
Divorce Decree granted by Foreign Courts can be divided into two categories:
- Mutual Consent Divorce grated by Foreign Courts.
- Decree granted in Contested Divorce.
In the case of mutual consent Divorce Decree, the decree granted by a Foreign Court is considered to be legal, valid and binding in the Indian Courts by the virtue of Section 13 and Section 14 of the Civil Procedure Code, wherein Section 13 enumerates the condition when a foreign judgment would not be considered valid in India and Section 14 states that when the Indian Courts would consider the Foreign judgment to be conclusive.
A Decree which is not affected by Section 13 doesn’t need to be validated in India and will be considered conclusive under Section 14 of the Civil Procedure Act.
Though in a case where a Divorce Decree is granted by a Foreign Court in a Contested Divorce the answer to the question of validity of the divorce decree varies.
The cases in which the foreign Divorce Decree would not be considered conclusive:
- When an ex-parte decree is passed by a Foreign Court, it would not be valid and conclusive in India. A decree would be considered ex-parte if summons aren’t served on the opposite party. However, if such decree was deliberately left to go ex-parte i.e. no summons are served on the opposite party then the Indian Courts wouldn’t allow this fraud.
- Divorce obtained on grounds other than the grounds enumerated under the Hindu Marriage Act if the parties were married under Hindu Law, as a divorce matter is governed by the law under which one gets married and not the law of the land where the party is residing.
A Foreign Divorce Decree shall be considered to be valid and conclusive in the following case:
It’s a general rule that if one of the partners contests Divorce filed in Foreign Soil, it would be said that he/she consented to the jurisdiction of that Court, in such a case the decree would be considered to be a conclusive one.
Where the wife consents to the grant of the relief by the foreign Court although the jurisdiction of the foreign Court is not in accordance with the provisions of the Matrimonial Law of the parties, to be valid and the judgment of such foreign Court to be conclusive.
Execution of a Foreign Divorce Decree:
A Foreign Judgment can be executed in two ways in India. The ways are as follows:
First, by filing an execution under Section 44A of the Civil Procedure Code. Section 44A states that a decree passed by Courts in reciprocating territories can be executed in India as if the decree was passed by the Indian Courts only.
Secondly, by filing a suit upon the foreign judgment/decree. For instance, the Decree doesn’t pertain to a reciprocating territory or a Superior Court of a reciprocating territory, as notified by the Central Govt in the Official Gazette, the decree isn’t directly executable in India.
Here the decree passed by the Foreign Court shall be considered as another piece of evidence.
To conclude we can say that a decree passed by a Foreign Court has either to be executed under Section 44A or a fresh suit has to be filed for its enforcement.
A foreign divorce decree is considered to be conclusive under Section 14 of the Civil Procedure Code if it passes the test under Section 13 of the said Code.
Can Divorce Decrees Be Appealed or Modified?
Generally speaking, Divorce Decrees are final and binding upon the parties. However, there are some instances when the decree may be appealed or modified.
Modifying a Divorce Decree may be possible in instances related to issues like child or spousal support, and visitation or custody rights. In most cases, the parties won’t be able to modify a decree if their dispute happens to be over division of property.
Appealing for a Divorce Decree is usually limited to errors based on the Lower Court’s legal ruling.
Appeals must be specifically requested (they aren’t automatically granted), and are subject to very strict filing deadlines. Only issues of law, not fact can be appealed.
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