How do you divorce foreign spouse Singapore?
Duan, from Xianyang, Shaanxi province, had married a young bride from Laos. To do so, he had borrowed more than S$22,000. Alas, the marriage was short lived.
Difficulty in finding a wife
Duan found it difficult to find a wife from China as the country has a higher number of men than women.
Further, his left hand was disabled and his parents suffered from physical disabilities.
After seeing their neigbours married Laotian brides without problems, Duan’s family decided to pay Li’s family more than S$22,000.
Bride behaved quite well initially
According to Duan’s father, the young bride was well-behaved initially. After the couple got married, Li visited Duan’s relatives and family members with him and received red packets from Duan’s relatives during the visits.
The spouse who ran away
Li, the young runaway bride, met Duan in December 2016 and ran away on 29 January 2017, which happened to be the second day of the Lunar New Year.
According to reports, Li had left a family gathering early.
Police report
In the end, the matchmaker who brought Li and Duan together reported Li’s disappearance to the police. Duan believes that he was defrauded.
See: “Runaway Laotian bride flees groom days after arranged marriage”, The Star Online, 7 February 2017
How do you divorce foreign spouse Singapore?
As a divorce lawyer in Singapore, I have encountered many clients with runaway spouses. They want a divorce badly, especially if they have been deserted for many years.
How do you divorce foreign spouse Singapore, if your spouse is no longer in Singapore and you have lost all contact with him/ her?
As a divorce involves 2 persons, you would normally be required to serve divorce papers on your spouse by hand. If your spouse has run away/ gone missing, and you have lost all contact with your spouse, you may make an application for dispensation of service. This will allow you to proceed with divorce without serving the divorce papers on your foreign spouse.
Please contact us if you have more questions on how to divorce foreign spouse Singapore.
You may also be interested to read more about:
2. Annulment (Nullity) of Marriage
5. Maintenance Issues (Alimony)
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