Before a court on Guam can grant a divorce, the plaintiff or person asking for a divorce must establish at a minimum that they meet the residency requirements under Guam law. This means that the person requesting the divorce has either (1) been physically on Guam for 90 days or more or (2) the matter is uncontested and they have been physically on Guam for 7 days or more.
But what happens if the defendant does not live on Guam and has filed for divorce in another state or territory?
The Supreme Court of Guam addressed that question in a recent decision, Speicher v. Speicher, 2013 Guam 11 (opinion can be found here). In that case, the parties were married in Oregon and separated sometime in 2011. The husband moved to Guam that year and became a resident. The wife had never been to Guam. In February 2012, the wife filed for divorce in Hawai’i, where the parties owned a home. Three months later, the husband filed for divorce on Guam and served his wife with divorce documents. Wife moved to dismiss the case on Guam for several reasons, including that the Guam court had no personal jurisdiction over her and that she had filed first in Hawai’i. She also claimed that Guam was an inconvenient forum.
The trial court heard arguments and dismissed the case because Guam was an inconvenient forum.
The Supreme Court reversed the trial court’s decision holding that the ability of a court to grant a divorce was separate and distinct from the ability to divide community property.
What does this mean for a resident of Guam looking to file for divorce against someone who has never been to Guam?
This decision means that a resident of Guam can file for and obtain a divorce even if the other party has never been to Guam. As the court stated, “”[i]f the statutory requirements for granting dissolution of marriage are satisfied, the trial court does not have discretion whether or not to grant the dissolution of the marital relationship . . . .” The granting of a divorce under these circumstances, however, must be limited to the grant of divorce and cannot deal with issues surrounding community property, debt or custody.
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