Foreign Marriage and Divorce in Illinois

People get married all over the world and then come to Illinois to live.  Often, along the way, those same people try to get divorced.  So, if you’re married in a foreign country, can you get divorced in Illinois? How do foreign marriages get treated under Illinois divorce law? Firstly, you do not have to get divorced in the country you got married.  If you have been in Illinois for 90 days, you can get divorced in Illinois. Illinois doesn’t really require you to formally prove that you were married in order to get divorced. To request a divorce, you must simply say where and when you were married in your petition for dissolution of marriage. “The complaint or petition for dissolution of marriage…shall be verified and shall minimally set forth: … The date of the marriage and the place at which it was registered” 750 ILCS 5/403(a) That’s it.  The state of Illinois will take your word for it that you were married and will subsequently grant you a divorce and allow you to invoke all the rights of divorce such as child custody, child support, alimony, division of assets under the Illinois divorce law…just because you said you were married. The only problem is when your supposed spouse says you are not, in fact married. Foreign Marriage Certificate In Cook County, Illinois and every other county in the United States, they keep a close record of who in fact is married and who is not.  Showing a marriage certificate from a county in the United States is going to prove you’re married. Does showing a marriage certificate from another country also prove you’re married?  It sure does! “Proof of Foreign Marriage. A marriage which may have been solemnized or had in any foreign state or country, may be proved by the acknowledgment of the parties, their cohabitation, and other evidence. Certified copies of records of a marriage performed in any foreign state or country obtained from an authorized state governmental unit, embassy, or consulate may be admitted as an exception to the hearsay rule.” 750 ILCS 5/409 In Illinois, you don’t need anything to prove the foreign marriage certificate is real beyond the certificate itself. This is important because almost every other document presented in an Illinois court must get around the hearsay rule. Hearsay in Illinois “is a statement, other than one made by the declarant while testifying […]

from Russell D. Knight | Family Lawyer Chicago https://rdklegal.com/foreign-marriage-and-divorce-in-illinois/