Case Update (31 August 2023): Azhar v. Choudhri; Pakistani divorce, upheld by its appellate courts, entitled to recognition in Texas; Wife was precluded from seeking a division of assets in Texas

A recent Houston, Texas appellate court decision addressed the recognition of a foreign (Pakistani) divorce decree and the applicable law in dividing the parties’ assets.

The parties were married in Pakistan in December 2008, having signed a nikkah nama, and registered their marriage in Pakistan in January 2009. At the time of the marriage, Wife lived in Pakistan and Husband lived in Houston, but shortly thereafter, Wife obtained a visa and joined her spouse in Houston, where the coupled lived together. In 2012, the Wife returned to Pakistan to renew her visa. In January 2013, while she was still there, the Husband initiated talaq (divorce proceedings) pursuant to the Muslim Family Law Ordinance of 1961. A local arbitration council in Pakistan issued a divorce decree on May 22, 2013. About 2 years later, the Wife filed a challenge to the Pakistani divorce in Pakistan, but ultimately withdrew that challenge. The following month, she returned to Houston and filed for divorce and community property division in Texas. Husband moved to dismiss the Texas suit, and sought recognition of the Pakistani divorce decree.

At the hearing in Texas, a Pakistani lawyer testified that he sent notice of the talaq to the Wife at her residence and served her by courier and publication, and then ultimately the divorce became final on May 22, 2013. He further testified that there was no division of marital property in the Pakistani hearing.

After further challenges in Pakistan, the Pakistani Supreme Court upheld the divorce decree, and the Texas trial court then granted Husband’s motion to dismiss, in part, recognizing the Pakistani divorce as of May 22, 2013.

Husband’s expert testified that when Wife withdrew her challenge to the Pakistani divorce decree in Pakistan, and when she chose not to seek division of their property in Pakistan, she is now precluded from doing so later. He testified that the Pakistani courts had jurisdiction to divide its own nationals’ property regardless of where they reside. The lawyer testified that Pakistani law adheres to the principles of res judicata and collateral estoppel.

The Wife appealed, arguing that due to a lack of due process, the Pakistani divorce should not have been recognized. The Texas appellate court, however, focused on the recognition of the Pakistani Supreme Court’s order as a matter of comity. That order upheld the Pakistani divorce. It may be a distinction without a difference, but the appellate court concluded it would grant, as a matter of comity, recognition to the Supreme Court order from Pakistan.

Second, the Wife appealed, arguing that the Texas court incorrectly applied Pakistani law when it precluded her from seeking a division of the parties’ assets in Texas, when that had not been resolved in Pakistan. Pakistani law afforded her the opportunity to seek a division of their assets in Pakistan. She chose not to seek that relief. She is now precluded from doing so.

Pakistani law provides for res judicata and prohibits claim splitting (i.e., seeking a divorce in Pakistan and then a division of property in the U.S.). Therefore, under Pakistani law, the Wife is precluded from proceeding in the U.S. with a property division claim. The Wife did not properly challenge the omitted assets claim on appeal, and so the court affirmed the trial court order.