Case Update (2021): Iqtaifan v. Hagerty; writ of mandamus, recognition of foreign divorce decree
The Kentucky Supreme Court addressed a Husband's request for a writ of mandamus to compel his family court judge, Judge Hagerty, to dismiss his Wife's petition for a divorce because he had already secured a divorce in Jordan. For purposes of this blog, I am going to skip over the merits of the writ of mandamus arguments and whether Husband was entitled to one (note: he was not). I do want to discuss the basic tenets of these simultaneous (or proximate) divorce proceedings in the U.S. and overseas. In the case of Iqtaifan v. Hagerty , the court elaborated on the following facts. Mr. Iqtaifan met his Wife and married her in Jordan in 2005. They then moved to Kentucky, where they resided for the entirety of their marriage, and where both of their children were born. In July 2017, the parties traveled to Jordan to visit family, and it was apparently during this timeframe where Mr. Iqtaifan pronounced talaq and commenced Jordanian divorce proce...