As people live increasingly mobile lives, the Conflict of Laws and its choice of law rules are highly relevant to determine: the circumstances in which people may obtain divorces in states in which they have no permanent or habitual residence; and when one state will recognize and enforce a divorce granted in another state. Visit the North Carolina divorce lawyer for more information about this.



A distinction must be made between forms of divorce that are based in a court system administered under a system of law, and divorces that take place in quasi- or extra-judicial setting, i.e. without any formal supervision from the local court system.

In both cases, once jurisdiction has been established, the lex fori will be applied to determine whether the local ground(s) of divorce have been satisfied and, if so, the marriage will be terminated with or without ancillary orders being made. Learn more of this with the North Carolina divorce lawyer.

In the common law, marriage can produce a common domicile for the spouses with the wife taking the domicile of the husband. This rule is derived from the proposition that a dependent wife will follow her husband in all aspects of her life.

Although this provides a convenient law which is usually easy to identify it may produce a result in which a person is domiciled in one state but the matrimonial home and all other features of the parties' lives may be in a second state. Check out what the North Carolina divorce lawyer has to offer about this.

Habitual residence may be a more satisfactory connecting factor than domicile because a person's long-term residence would appear to offer a more practical basis for recognition, whatever his or her intentions may be.

Although intention is relevant to establishing a person's habitual residence, it is a less demanding test than for domicile. But it could lead to forum shopping with a Petitioner living in a state only long enough to establish habitual residence under that state's law and so evade obligations or gain unfair advantages. For more information about divorces and conflicts within its legal system, then visit the North Carolina divorce lawyer for more details.