NJSBA Family Law Section

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Service of Complaint in Korea

  • 1.  Service of Complaint in Korea

    Posted 10-17-2016 02:04 PM

    Hi List-mates,

    Any help or advice with the following would be greatly appreciated.

    I have a client who is a US Citizen of Korean dissent.  He can speak Korean, but not fluently.  He cannot read or write the language.  He went on holiday several years ago to Korea.  He met a girl and after a long distance romance, she came to the USA.  They were married in 2011 in Gloucester County.  She obtained her green card.  She obtained a US driver's license and learned some English.  She was homesick so she went back on vacation in the summer of 2014.  Despite all of his encouragement, she could not be convinced to return to the USA.  He has not heard from her since.  It is my understanding that because she was outside of the USA longer than 90 days, she lost her status and cannot return (not that she wants to anyway). 

    He has retained me for his Gloucester County divorce.

    1.  Has anyone had any success with service of a Summons and Complaint in Korea?  Who have you used and at what cost?

    2.  Did the service offer a skip-trace?  If they were not able to locate the party, did they sign off on an affidavit stating they were unable to locate/serve the summons?

    3.  I contacted a Korean law firm via the web and email, they advised that the complaint and summons do not have to be translated to Korean or served via an official Korean Govt. office, because we only have to follow NJ statutes in the service of the complaint to get a USA divorce.  That said, they wanted a rather large retain just to serve papers... I passed on that for the time being.  Any experience would help here.

    I will certainly accept any advice on or off-list. 

    Thanks in Advance,

    Henry 

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    Henry Weinfeld Esq.
    Woodbury NJ
    (856)845-7851
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