Divorce Problems in the Conflict of Laws

Divorce may be considered as the termination of the legal relationship between husband and wife by an act of the law. With the purely local aspect of legal questions regarding divorce, Conflict of Laws is not concerned. If a husband and wife are married and have their home in one state, legal questions concerning their divorce are local matters only. These will include the grounds for divorce, the particular court in which the action is brought, the procedure to be followed from commencement to termination of the action. In such a case it is only when some question concerning the decree comes up in another state that a Conflict of Laws question is raised. This may be the recognition of the decree freeing the parties from the bonds of matrimony, the effect to be given to an order for alimony, marital rights in foreign property, or the claim to custody of the children. The questions, especially as among the states of the United States, are many, and often difficult