Cross-Border Marriages and Divorces: Navigating Legal and Social Challenges

Abstract

This paper explores the complex legal and social issues involved in cross-border divorces and marriages, contextualized by globalization, migration and intersecting cultural, religious and socioeconomic factors. With the increase in transnational marriages owing to mobility and economic inequalities, they face jurisdictional conflicts, competing legal systems and financial settlements following divorce. Legal challenges forum shopping, foreign divorce recognition and religion-based personal laws-cross with social issues such as cultural adaptation, gender 
inequities and domestic violence fuelled by the stress of migration. The critique emphasizes how economic marginalization, especially for women, determines patterns in these marriages, with family networks and business brokers serving as intermediaries influencing marriage migration in many cases. Ethnographic and case law studies uncover renegotiation of transnational gender roles, citizenship and belonging within social spaces, while economic settlements highlight differences in spousal rights and duties between jurisdictions. Through the blending of bio-politics, human rights and gender justice paradigms, the research emphasizes the importance of policies that remediate systemic discrimination, safeguard marginalized groups and harmonize global legal standards.