Claim for Dependents' Benefits

A Navy disbursing officer requested an advance decision concerning a member's entitlement to additional benefits for his second wife and her children. The member was granted an ex parte divorce in the Dominican Republic where he was not a legal resident. His wife, who resided in Spain with their child, was not represented and did not appear for the proceedings. He was married a second time in Virginia to a resident alien, who was subsequently granted a resident visa on the basis of that marriage. It is well settled that, unless a foreign court granting a divorce has jurisdiction over the subject matter by reason of the bona fide residence of at least one of the parties to the divorce, its decree of divorce will not, under rules of international comity, be recognized in one of the States of the United States, even though the laws of such foreign country do not make residence a condition to its courts taking jurisdiction. Thus, where the validity of a subsequent marriage is dependent on the dissolution of an earlier marriage by a foreign court and the marriage has not been recognized by a court of competent jurisdiction in the United States, the marital status of the parties is considered doubtful. No information was provided to show that the ex parte Dominican Republic divorce was considered in the decision to issue the resident visa to the second wife. In the absence of such evidence, GAO did not consider the issuance of the visa as constituting recognition of the marital status of the parties equivalent to a determination by a court of competent jurisdiction. Accordingly, the marital status of the parties was too doubtful for GAO to authorize the payment of any additional benefits on account of the member's second wife and his stepchildren.