ARGENTINA Law and Practice Contributed by: Herberto Robinson, McEWAN
• when both or one of the spouses are under 18 years of age; • when the marriage was entered into under the influence of force or fear strong enough to prevent the free exercise of decision-making; • when there was no freedom of consent because one of the spouses was abducted; • when one of the spouses was involved in the crime of spousal homicide in a previous mar - riage; • when a prior marital bond still exists; • when the marriage was contracted between: (a) kinship in a straight line in all degrees, regardless of the origin of the relationship; (b) kinship between bilateral and unilateral siblings, regardless of the origin of the relationship; and (c) affinity in a straight line in all degrees. The annulment is processed through legal pro - ceedings before a judge. The process begins with a lawsuit, for which presenting the marriage certificate is a fundamental requirement. Once the marriage is annulled, all reciprocal rights and obligations arising from it cease as of the same day. If bad faith is proven in one of the spouses, they will be obligated to compensate the other Under the CCC, there is no judicial process under which spouses can obtain a separation sentence other than liquidation of marital assets. Separation of assets refers to a resolution by which the communal marital assets are divided between the spouses, who continue to be mar - ried under a different marital asset system (the separated patrimony system). for all damage caused. Separation of Assets However, a process of judicial separation of mar - ital assets may be filed in case spouses intend to extinguish the marital assets and for some
reason (ie, religious) they do not want to file for divorce. The judicial separation of assets may be requested by one of the spouses: • if the other spouse’s mismanagement threat - ens to cause the loss of their eventual rights over the community property; • if the other spouse is declared in a state of preventive insolvency or bankruptcy; • if the spouses are living apart without the intention to reunite; • if, due to incapacity or excuse of one spouse, a third party is appointed as the curator of the other. 1.2 Choice of Jurisdiction The law of the last marital domicile determines the applicable law and court jurisdiction in divorce cases and all matters concerning mar - riage nullity. Argentina adopted a federal system of government in which each of the 23 provinces (and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires) has its own procedural law. Thus, the applicable law is always the CCC, and the court with jurisdic - tion is the provincial court where the last mar - riage residence was settled. The same grounds apply to same-sex marriages. A party to a divorce may contest jurisdiction if the last marriage domicile is not in Argentina. Marriage dissolution procedures are governed by the spouses’ last marital residence law. How - ever, if the last marital residence was in a foreign country, the parties may file for divorce in that country and then register the resolution at the local register. An Argentine judge’s intervention is needed to receive all foreign-certified divorce documents. Foreign divorces are recognised when the sen - tence is issued according to the last marital
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