Husband v. Wife
Mashantucket Pequot Court of Appeals
(Mashantucket Pequot Ct. App. 2003)
Wife (plaintiff), a non-Indian Rhode Island resident, obtained a divorce decree from a Connecticut state court against Husband (defendant), a Mashantucket Pequot tribal member, after their marriage (conducted in Connecticut, outside tribal land) broke down; Wife then sought to enforce the decree in Mashantucket Pequot Family Court. Husband contested enforcement, arguing the Connecticut decree was invalid because neither party actually satisfied Connecticut's 12-month residency requirement for a divorce action there. The family court enforced the decree, and Husband appealed.
Whether a state-court divorce decree, obtained by parties who may not have satisfied that state's own residency requirements, is nonetheless enforceable in tribal court under principles of comity.