Can a foreign divorce decree be challenged in Virginia?
Yes, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in the case of Williams v. North Carolina, 325 U.S. 226, 65 S.Ct. 1092, 89 L.Ed. 1577 (1945) http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=11901843596649770914&q=williams+v.+state+of+north+carolina&hl=en&as_sdt=80000000000002. While the Williams case does not directly concern Virginia law or bankruptcy law, the case has had far reaching implications on the extent to which each state must respect the judgments of her sister states, including divorce decrees affecting spousal support or alimony, property division, equitable distribution, or the allocation of marital debts, when one spouse leaves Virginia and obtains a divorce in a different state. The validity of a foreign divorce can impact bankruptcy by its effects on property transfers and financial obligations. In Williams, a man and a woman, domiciled in North Carolina, left their spouses in North Carolina in order to obtain decrees of divorce in Nevada. The Nevada court granted the pe
