I am 28 Female living in San Diego California
I was married in Brazil.
I am not legally divorced.
I am not a US citizen
I am in the US on a student visa.
I want to marrie an american man here in California
How can I get legally divorced and remarried here in California 
without having to go back to Brazil?

Can the paperwork, documents, notaries or whatever needs to be done 
from the US with a physical trip back the Brazil?

If so how, who and how much and how long will it take? 
Any detail or a lead to the right dorection would be of great help.

---

Request for Question Clarification by serenata-ga on 26 Apr 2003 20:42 PDT

Hello Haradtofindseminars ...

 You didn't mention where your husband is ... is he in Brazil? Or is
he in California?

 How long have you been in the United States, and when does your
student visa expire?

 The answers to those questions can help steer you in the right
direction to obtain the information you want.

Thanks,
Serenata

Hello.

Assuming a few facts and taking into account the information provided
by you here is the answer.

1.	Assuming the marriage took place in Brazil.
2.	The spouse never lived with you in US.
3.	Marriage has lasted for at least 2 years.
4.	You have no monetary claims with divorce.
5.	You have no children from the marriage.

You need not have to go to Brazil to file for divorce; you can very
well get it done in California courts.
As you have been residing for last six months in CA, it gives you
right to file a case in CA courts.
You have to provide proper notifications to the other party (your
husband in Brazil). You can file a case for divorce in US court and if
the party does not respond regardless of proper notifications, you
will be implicitly out of this marriage in six months time period. If
your husband comes to defend divorce it might take around a year’s
time. It is important who files the divorce first; for that
jurisdiction will be taken into account which was filed first.

Visa expiry has nothing to do with filing the case in US court as you
had been residing here for last six months.
CA courts will have no problem granting you jurisdictions on the said
matter. The courts in CA could grant status, but would not necessarily
have any jurisdiction over property division (provided you have any
monetary claims from the marriage). For over any other matter,
although under the UCCJEA, the court would have jurisdiction over any
kids.

If you don’t have any kids and no monetary claims, dissolution will be
easy. I suggest you to go easy with your husband, talk him out, that
would make things amicable and easy.

I can help you with a lawyer in CA. His name is Mr. Michael Schneider
and deals in family matter and can be of help to you. He can be
reached at 909 686 1010, atyref@hotmail.com
[http://www.familylawcalifornia.com/profile/mike.shtml]. Luckily he
speaks Brazilian Portuguese too.

Hope that helps.

Please let me know if you need any clarification.

Good Bye,
muhammad-ga
Google Answers Researcher

Great work

My X husbend is in Brazil.

My Visa status has expired.