Can You Divorce a U.S. Spouse Without Being in the U.S.

[sally2012]

Hello,

I did my marriage in all good faith. My husband has lot of psychological issues which he never told me.
Now they are badly effecting the relationship.Good part is that he himself admits that and also the fact that he can't support me. He is even ready to compensate me on financial aspect. In this scenario, which type of divorce will be better (may be Summary Disolution) as we need to wrap it up ASAP

1. Do I need to be in US for any stage of the divorce process. Do I need to seperately file for divorce in my country too, where we got married
2. If I need to change my surname to before marriage, when I should do that during the process. Or what if I do the divorce process in my country only, not in US

Thanks

[Mr. Knowitall]

If your ex- is prosecuting a divorce in a state with jurisdiction, he can proceed with that divorce in your absence. At some point, at least one of you will have to be present in court to complete the proceedings, perhaps more than once depending on the full facts and state involved.

In most states you can petition to have your maiden name restored as part of the divorce. You can do that through a consent judgment if you're working together with your ex- on the divorce he is prosecuting.

You can investigate the laws of your nation to determine whether they will recognize the validity of a U.S. divorce. I expect so, although you may need to file documents from the U.S. court with a government office; I can't investigate that for you - it's a big world.

[sally2012]

Thanks for your response.
My husband will be filing in california. What is not valid out of what you have mentioned. Basically since he admits that its all fault, he will be running whole divorce process and I want to just be out of country for few months. I think after 6 months, I can have the document though sitting outside US
Whats the best website that can guide for the process, if we don't plan to hire attorney. What type of divorce we should do
Can he complete every stage of it in my absence, including changing of my surname

[lwpat]

He cannot change your surname. You will need to be present to testify for that to happen. Here is the
website with all of the information and forms.

http://www.courts.ca.gov/1033.htm