International Divorce

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LisaJane

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My husband is a Canadian citizen, and I am an American citizen. We were married in Louisiana back in 2004, but lived together in New York. He was abusive, and I separated from him (physically, but not legally) in 2007 when I moved for graduate school. He returned to Toronto, ON. We have no assets to speak of, and no children.

In 2008, I started dating someone & asked my husband for a divorce. I stopped dating that person, and in June of 2009, my husband and I began to file paperwork (without legal aid) for a no-contest divorce in NY state. But he "accidentally" destroyed part of the paperwork, which halted that process. In September of 2009, he simultaneously moved in with his new girlfriend and told me that he wanted to get back with me. We toyed with the idea for a few months, but he continued (and continues) to live with his girlfriend in Canada. I am still a NY state resident, and now want a complete divorce.

My question is:
Could I divorce and request alimony? I am a full-time student, and he works full-time... but I worry that because I initially requested the separation and that we had already began to file a no-contest divorce it might not work.

Also, even if I were granted alimony, would he be liable to pay it-- since he lives in Canada and all.

Thanks.
 
It's unlikely you would be awarded alimony based upon the length of your marriage and if by some chance you are, it would likely be very short term.

If you're a student, you may - as unfair as this might seem - need to put your studies on hold until you can support yourself.

To answer your other question, if you did obtain a support order, Canada is usually actually rather good at enforcing foreign domestic orders.
 
Thanks for the quick response, Proserpina.

I am supporting myself--just barely--as a student.

But what I failed to mention is that I supported him during our marriage with an inheritance from my mother's death & my undergraduate student loan money (he was attempting to make it as an artist and either worked very part-time or not at all).

We lived in NYC, which was a very expensive town. You don't know if there's any way of recovering any of the roughly $45,000 that I spent to support him (not including my expenses) during our time together on his rent/utilities/groceries is there? I can get bank statements & receipts to reflect this spending.

Or is that just considered part of being married & I can expect no return through alimony?

Thanks.
 
LisaJane said:
Thanks for the quick response, Proserpina.

I am supporting myself--just barely--as a student.

But what I failed to mention is that I supported him during our marriage with an inheritance from my mother's death & my undergraduate student loan money (he was attempting to make it as an artist and either worked very part-time or not at all).

We lived in NYC, which was a very expensive town. You don't know if there's any way of recovering any of the roughly $45,000 that I spent to support him (not including my expenses) during our time together on his rent/utilities/groceries is there? I can get bank statements & receipts to reflect this spending.

Or is that just considered part of being married & I can expect no return through alimony?

Thanks.
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Yes, that's what supporting each other during a marriage means ;)

You chose to do that - you can't really expect to reimbursed at this point.
 
Please do!

Be sure to mention that you have been separated for a few years, and effectively your marriage was only 3 years duration.

Out of pure curiosity, why do you believe you would be entitled to be reimbursed?
 
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