Asked in Family Law, Immigration Law and International Law

Q: Husband in USA. He says he filed his papers there as single. wants to divorce me. What can I do to get him in Ghana.

I want to be able to get access to immigration in USA so they look into this. He has brought me untold pains. I gave him money to travel. I think he did marry there again to get his papers. I suspect bigamy since we're still validly and legally married with children. What is the position of the law on such matters? Thank you.

1 Lawyer Answer
Richard Sternberg
Richard Sternberg
Answered
  • International Law Lawyer
  • Potomac, MD

A: The first thing you need to do to "get him in Ghana" is to get him in Ghana. Either he needs to be there physically, or you need to convince a Ghana court that it has jurisdiction over him. For that issue, you need to consult a lawyer in Ghana. It may be difficult to enforce that judgment, assuming you can obtain it, in the United States, because Ghana is not a Hague Convention country for child support and enforcement, and the U.S. also has no Foreign Reciprocating Country relationship with Ghana. <https://www.acf.hhs.gov/css/partners/international>. You may therefore need to file a child support enforcement case in the jurisdiction where you can find and serve the father of the children. This is going to be a difficult case, because the children are in Ghana and the court has no jurisdiction over them; because the evidence that they are his kids in in Ghana; and because the possibility of being paid for the legal work is remote, particularly if he holds some marginal employment in the United States. You will not qualify for free representation, because you are not receiving U.S. welfare benefits for the children, so there will be not assignment under 4(d). And, if I read your email correctly, you don't even know where in America he can be found. Tough case, and I haven't begun to discuss the immigration issues. I'm not an immigration lawyer, and I stopped accepting family cases years ago, but I can't imagine a grounds for immigration so that you can bring unsupported children into the U.S. from Ghana. Tough case.

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