Dissolved a Malaysian Marriage Overseas? Here’s How to Register the Divorce

Dissolved a Malaysian Marriage Overseas? Here’s How to Register the Divorce

Dissolved a Malaysian marriage overseas? Here’s how to register the divorce if you are wondering if there is a need for you to register your divorce obtained overseas in Malaysia.

Generally, this is one of the most frequently asked questions for Malaysians who had applied for a divorce overseas and they are unsure if they need to register their divorce obtained overseas in Malaysia.

If you are married under the law in Malaysia as a non-Muslims (either if you registered your marriage in Malaysia or through the embassy of Malaysia overseas), your marriage will be recorded under the law in Malaysia.

So, even if you have obtained a divorce overseas, there is no way the marriage and divorce registry in Malaysia will have record on this until and unless you have registered the said divorce in Malaysia with the registry.

So how can you register the said overseas divorce in Malaysia?

It is very important to take note that you CANNOT just simply head to the Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara (JPN) Malaysia and submit your overseas divorce certificate to update the marriage and divorce registry. Your request will be rejected by the officers of JPN. This is because the you will need to make sure that the divorce obtained overseas is one that is legally valid and should be recognized by the law in Malaysia.

To do this, you need to engage a divorce lawyer to file an application to the Court in Malaysia in order to allow the Court to examine the divorce obtained overseas so that the Court can declare under the law that the divorce obtained overseas is recognized under the law in Malaysia before it is allowed to be registered with the JPN.

For this application, either party to the divorce can apply and there is no need for both parties to apply for the same application in Malaysia. Your divorce lawyer will then assist with the legal process.

Once the overseas divorce is legally recognized by the Court in Malaysia, you can proceed to update the JPN with the Court order provided by the Court (this is usually assisted by your divorce lawyer).

Remember that you should get legal assistance first from a divorce lawyer instead of heading to the JPN directly as the JPN is only obligated to register the overseas divorce only after the Court recognizes the divorce obtained overseas.

Get Free Advice & Quote From Our Divorce Lawyer In Less Than 2 Working Hours Now