## Facts

- Two Swiss citizens married in New York in 1954 and had a minor child, Daniel.
- In February 1967, the wife filed for divorce in Chihuahua, Mexico; she appeared personally, and the husband appeared through authorized counsel and filed a consenting answer.
- On February 23, 1967, the Mexican court entered a decree dissolving the marriage and awarding custody of Daniel to the husband.
- Later in 1967, the wife filed a divorce petition in a Swiss tribunal; it was dismissed due to her absence.
- In November 1967, the husband traveled to St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, with Daniel to pursue business.
- In December 1967, the wife initiated a Virgin Islands custody matter; the court issued a writ of *ne exeat*, but the case did not proceed to judgment.
- In January 1968, the wife filed a new action in the District Court of the Virgin Islands seeking an absolute divorce and custody.
- The district court denied the husband’s dismissal motion, entered interim support and custody orders, and after trial granted the wife a divorce and custody.
- The husband appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether a Virgin Islands court may grant a divorce after a foreign court has entered a divorce decree dissolving the marriage in a proceeding where both spouses voluntarily appeared.
2. Whether the Virgin Islands court had jurisdiction to determine custody of a child physically present in the Virgin Islands despite a prior foreign custody award.
3. Whether the district court’s custody award to the mother should be disturbed on appellate review.

## Decision

- The court reversed the portion of the judgment granting a divorce.
- The court held the Mexican divorce decree was valid and should be recognized because it was a bilateral proceeding with voluntary participation by both spouses.
- Because the marriage had already been dissolved, there was no existing marital status upon which the Virgin Islands court could grant another divorce.
- The court affirmed the custody award to the mother.
- The court held the Virgin Islands court had jurisdiction to adjudicate custody because the child was physically present in the jurisdiction and the parents were before the court.
- The court concluded the custody determination was supported by the record and was not reversible under the applicable standard of review.

## Legal Principles

- A foreign-country divorce decree obtained in a bilateral proceeding, with both spouses voluntarily appearing and being heard (personally or through counsel), will generally be recognized as terminating the marriage for purposes of later domestic proceedings.
- Once a valid prior decree has dissolved the marriage, a later court lacks authority to grant a second divorce because no marital status remains to be adjudicated.
- Custody is analytically separate from marital status; a court where the child is physically present may exercise jurisdiction to determine custody based on the child’s welfare, even in the presence of an earlier foreign custody award.
- Appellate courts generally defer to a trial court’s custody findings unless the record shows reversible error under the governing review standard.

## Conclusion

The Third Circuit recognized the parties’ prior bilateral Mexican divorce as controlling marital status and reversed the Virgin Islands divorce decree, but affirmed the Virgin Islands court’s jurisdiction and discretionary authority to award custody of the child present in the territory to the mother.


Perrin v. Perrin, 408 F.2d 107 (3d Cir. 1969)