So my GF is from Guatemala and is a temp resident here in the U.S. The thing is she is still married in Guatemala, but currently trying to divorce her husband, who is living in Guatemala. He's not a resident here, nor does he have a visa. He lives over there. The problem is, she's filed her divorce papers from over here, and he's unwilling to do his part over there. He hasn't showed up to meet with her lawyer over there. She's already spent a good amount of money. If by a certain day in November he doesn't show up to sign some papers, her divorce claim will expire, and she has to re-do to whole process again. That means more money spent. Since she's been living over here (2 years), he's never called her, nor sent her any money. They have a 4-year old kid together (he was born here in U.S.) and he's never called to check on him or give him money for food or clothes. He pretty much does not care for his kid. And before anyone says "why does she a BF and is still married??", He's been living with another woman for about a year now, and is taking care of her 2 kids, neither of them are his. So what we were wondering is, is her marriage in Guatemala valid here in the U.S.??
Well she's been told that her by her attorney that her marriage isn't valid here in the U.S., but another attorney (friend of hers) says that it is.
Long story just to ask THAT? :grin: Sorry, didn't mean to LOL... but, why wouldn't it be, man...? Put yourself in any other country's resident's shoes... you would want your marriage in your country to be valid in any other country. Check with the local U.S. Guatemalan embassy or consulate for legal rules. Both attorneys sound like shady attorneys. They need to either cite a law or STFU.
There has been a lot of confusion in this whole process, and she feels like her attorney doesn't know what to do sometimes. She has also told her that it was her fault that it has gotten complicated, just because she opted not to ask for too much from him as far as child and spousal support. Obviously, that process would be much more expensive for her, meaning more money for her attorney.
My mom was in a similar situation, my dad is in Italy and my mom here in the US. She had to get the divorce finalized before either of them could re-marry.
yea long story, i know! but I thought yall might need a little background on this situation. Her husband is evading the divorce, and she left him two years ago. He's just doing it to make her suffer.
And she also wanted to make sure she wasn't wasting her time and money since she's never going back to Guatemala and wants to become a U.S. citizen
We think her attorney isn't very experienced. She wanted to go for broke, and my GF didn't want that. It would have cost her much more, and that bothered her attorney. Maybe that's also why it has gotten complicated, she's taking her time.
She's not looking to re-marry. She just wants to live her life over here with her and her son, and she wants nothing to do with her husband, and nothing with her son, since he wants nothing to do with his kid
I would say she should return to Guatamala to handle the divorce in person, but that probably would complicate her residency in the US. But, if her residency is temporary here and she wants to stay, she may need the divorce so she can marry here to maintain her residency. So, it's a bit of a catch-22. I'm tempted to say that she should have handled the whole leaving-the-husband thing differently, but I don't know her so who knows. Maybe, if she went after her husband hard for support, she could use it for leverage to negotiate to a low- or no-support divorce that actually gets his signature on the paper. He may consent to an easy divorce to avoid the risk of being burdened with child support.
