Case Update (29 April 2025): DSS v. CB; foreign divorce judgment recognized as a matter of comity to then enter order in NY to divide NY-based retirement

The parties, in this unpublished opinion, divorced in Geneva, Switzerland. They had reached an agreement, presented to the Court of First Instance 19th Chamber, Republic and Canton of Geneva, which provided for a division of their assets, including the Husband’s retirement with Columbia University in New York. Unstated in the opinion, but the basis for this New York opinion, is that a U.S. based retirement would be divided by a proper Domestic Relations Order, entered by a court in a U.S. state that has in rem jurisdiction over the asset. Therefore, to effectuate their agreement that Wife would receive the agreed upon share of Husband’s Columbia University retirement, the Husband filed a request with the New York Supreme Court to recognize, as a matter of comity, their Swiss divorce judgment, and grant the proposed Domestic Relations Order he submitted to the court. Both the Husband and wife submitted affirmations to the New York court in support of this request.

Given the cooperation between the spouses (which also presumably demonstrated personal jurisdiction over the Defendant Wife), and their participation in the underlying divorce, the New York court found that due process had been met in the Swiss proceeding, and it would recognize the Swiss divorce judgment as a matter of comity. This then permitted the court to enter the Domestic Relations Order, which provided for a rollover of a sum of money from the Husband’s Columbia University retirement to the Wife.