Mostly law professors | Sometimes contrarian | Often libertarian | Always independent
From Azhar v. Choudhri, decided today by the Texas Supreme Court:
A man who has lived in Houston since he was three years old, who built several businesses in Texas, and who accumulated over $100 million in community assets during a Texas-domiciled marriage, traveled to Pakistan to obtain a unilateral divorce from his wife.
asserted
who → decide → wife
He did so without her knowledge or consent, using an Islamic legal mechanism called talaq.
asserted
He → do → talaq
His wife was not served with process.
asserted
wife → serve → process
She was not heard.
asserted
She → hear → ?
She received no notice at all until two years after the divorce was final.
asserted
divorce → receive → notice
In an unbroken line of decisions originating before the ratification of our Constitution, we have recognized the fundamental "principle of natural justice which requires a person to have notice of a suit before he can be conclusively bound by its result."
asserted
he → originate → result
As a result, efforts to give notice "must include inquiries that someone who really wants to find the defendant would make."
asserted
who → give → defendant
Gamesmanship designed to "hide the ball" and prevent the defendant from learning of the lawsuit is inconsistent with our foundational notions of justice.
asserted
Gamesmanship → design → justice
The Pakistani divorce judgment was issued contrary to these principles.
asserted
judgment → issue → principles
Accordingly, it cannot be afforded comity….
asserted
it → afford → comity
Husband and Wife married in Pakistan in 2008 when Wife was eighteen and Husband was twenty-eight.
asserted
Husband → marry → 2008
Husband had been living in Houston since age three but had traveled to Pakistan to find a wife through an arranged marriage.
asserted
Husband → live → marriage
Wife came to Houston in 2010 after obtaining a visa.
asserted
Wife → come → visa
Throughout the course of their marriage, the couple amassed over $100 million in community assets.
asserted
couple → amass → assets
At the same time, Wife alleges that Husband continuously abused her physically and emotionally.
asserted
Husband → allege → her
In 2012, Husband sent Wife back to Pakistan, ostensibly to renew her visa.
asserted
Husband → send → visa
But this turned out to be a ruse: In January 2013, Husband divorced her, without her knowledge, through a talaq proceeding in Pakistan.
asserted
Husband → turn → Pakistan
"A divorce under Sharia law is called a talaq."
asserted
divorce → call → law
American courts have recognized that "under Islamic law," a husband initiates a talaq divorce by pronouncing the words "I divorce thee" three times.
asserted
I → recognize → thee
Our colleagues in North Dakota recently described talaq proceedings as follows:
asserted
colleagues → describe → proceedings
Under Islamic law, a husband has the right to initiate a divorce ("talaq") against his wife.
asserted
husband → have → wife
All that is required to achieve talaq is for a husband to pronounce his intent to divorce his wife on three separate occasions, either verbally or in writing.
asserted
husband → require → writing
The husband does not need to communicate his three pronouncements to his wife.
asserted
husband → need → wife
A wife cannot object to a talaq.
asserted
wife → object → talaq
According to Wife, Husband did not inform Wife before or afterwards that they would be divorced.
uncertain
they → accord → Wife
No one notified Wife of the proceedings or served her with process.
asserted
one → notify → process
Instead, Husband purported to effectuate service by publishing a notice in a small local Pakistani newspaper a mere five days in advance.
asserted
Husband → purport → advance
Wife did not happen to come across that publication.
asserted
Wife → happen → publication
Two years later, Wife finally learned of Husband's actions.
asserted
Wife → learn → actions
She then set about challenging that talaq divorce in Pakistan under Pakistani law.
asserted
She → set → law
When Wife made it back to Houston in June 2015, she promptly filed for divorce in a Harris County court and sought division of marital property.
asserted
she → make → property
After much procedural wrangling across multiple Pakistani courts, the Pakistan Supreme Court in 2018 denied relief.
asserted
Court → deny → relief
(The parties dispute whether this denial was procedural or substantive, a debate we need not resolve today.)
asserted
we → dispute → ?
The Harris County trial court relied on those Pakistani proceedings to dismiss Wife's divorce petition for want of jurisdiction.
asserted
court → rely → jurisdiction
The trial court granted comity to the Pakistan Supreme Court's judgment and thereby recognized that Husband and Wife were divorced in Pakistan as of May 22, 2013.
uncertain
Husband → grant → May
The trial court then denied Wife's claim for division of the marital estate.
uncertain
court → deny → estate
It heard testimony that under Pakistani law: (1) Wife was precluded from bringing additional claims for division of property under Pakistan's preclusion rules and its prohibitions against claim splitting; and (2) Pakistan does not recognize community property—instead, each party is entitled to the property titled in his or her own name.
uncertain
party → hear → name
On the basis of that testimony, the trial court concluded that the Pakistani proceedings were conclusive.
asserted
proceedings → conclude → testimony
It accordingly rendered a take-nothing judgment against Wife.
asserted
It → render → Wife
The court of appeals affirmed….
asserted
court → affirm → appeals
…and 21 more, not listed.
The Aporia
