NewsWhore
02-13-2012, 02:40 PM
According to the British newspaper The Daily Mail, for ?4,500 (US$7,000), including air fares, hotel and paperwork, couples can now get an overnight divorce as part of a package holiday to the Caribbean.
A divorce in Britain takes at least four months, even when both partners are keen to proceed. For no-fault divorces, couples have to undergo two years of separation before they can even initiate proceedings.
However, the new service being offered by QuickdivorceUK.com (http://QuickdivorceUK.com) completes all the paperwork in a week, provided all potential issues of conflict, from the custody of any children to dividing up property, have been agreed in writing.
The company translates all necessary documents such as marriage certificates into Spanish, and then at least one of the couple must travel to Santo Domingo, where a judge can complete the process in a ten-minute hearing.
If one spouse does not attend, they have to sign a power of attorney, witnessed by a British court official, stating that they consent to the split and are happy to be represented abroad by their soon-to-be ex. Under British law, divorces abroad are recognized only if one of the parties is a national, a habitual resident or is domiciled in the country where it takes place.
But Aimee Edwards, who set up Bridgend-based QuickdivorceUK with her husband Benjamin, said that Dominican Republic law allows British citizens to be treated as domiciled there even if they make only a fleeting visit. She added there was strong demand for such a service and that she already had five couples waiting to use it.
She said the divorce decrees would be valid in the UK, because they had been authenticated by the courts and government officials in the Dominican Republic.
Other lawyers said that as there was unlikely to be a dispute in consensual divorces, British authorities were unlikely to question them. But if problems later arose, the UK courts might take a 'hard look' at the legality of overseas decrees.
The Ministry of Justice said it was trying to streamline UK divorce proceedings to cut cost and delay.
There is already a trade in Dominican Republic divorces for American couples. In 1998 singer Mariah Carey ended her five-year marriage to record company chief Tommy Mottola there, and Mia Farrow and Andre Previn's divorce papers were also filed there.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2099863/Package-tour-company-offers-unhappy-couples-chance-divorce-just-minutes-Caribbean-break.html#ixzz1mA7xvcCi (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2099863/Package-tour-company-offers-unhappy-couples-chance-divorce-just-minutes-Caribbean-break.html#ixzz1mA7xvcCi)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#7)
A divorce in Britain takes at least four months, even when both partners are keen to proceed. For no-fault divorces, couples have to undergo two years of separation before they can even initiate proceedings.
However, the new service being offered by QuickdivorceUK.com (http://QuickdivorceUK.com) completes all the paperwork in a week, provided all potential issues of conflict, from the custody of any children to dividing up property, have been agreed in writing.
The company translates all necessary documents such as marriage certificates into Spanish, and then at least one of the couple must travel to Santo Domingo, where a judge can complete the process in a ten-minute hearing.
If one spouse does not attend, they have to sign a power of attorney, witnessed by a British court official, stating that they consent to the split and are happy to be represented abroad by their soon-to-be ex. Under British law, divorces abroad are recognized only if one of the parties is a national, a habitual resident or is domiciled in the country where it takes place.
But Aimee Edwards, who set up Bridgend-based QuickdivorceUK with her husband Benjamin, said that Dominican Republic law allows British citizens to be treated as domiciled there even if they make only a fleeting visit. She added there was strong demand for such a service and that she already had five couples waiting to use it.
She said the divorce decrees would be valid in the UK, because they had been authenticated by the courts and government officials in the Dominican Republic.
Other lawyers said that as there was unlikely to be a dispute in consensual divorces, British authorities were unlikely to question them. But if problems later arose, the UK courts might take a 'hard look' at the legality of overseas decrees.
The Ministry of Justice said it was trying to streamline UK divorce proceedings to cut cost and delay.
There is already a trade in Dominican Republic divorces for American couples. In 1998 singer Mariah Carey ended her five-year marriage to record company chief Tommy Mottola there, and Mia Farrow and Andre Previn's divorce papers were also filed there.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2099863/Package-tour-company-offers-unhappy-couples-chance-divorce-just-minutes-Caribbean-break.html#ixzz1mA7xvcCi (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2099863/Package-tour-company-offers-unhappy-couples-chance-divorce-just-minutes-Caribbean-break.html#ixzz1mA7xvcCi)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#7)