Summary This article, written by California Certified Family Law Specialist Abbas Hadjian, explores the legal process and practical challenges of having foreign divorce decrees recognized (“domesticated”) in California. While international divorces are increasingly common
California does not have a public policy favoring marriage over divorce. Nor does it maintain a public policy that disfavors one type of religious divorce over another. Yet for nearly four decades, courts have
Divorce is not only a legal termination of marriage but a passage through a tunnel of transformation—legal, financial, psychological, and cultural. For immigrant families, this tunnel becomes doubly complex. It is not merely the
The “Holiday Season” is not a random sequence of celebrations. It is a cultural column of four events stacked vertically, each standing on the shoulders of the one before it. From Halloween to New
California divorce judgments are binding and enforceable within the United Statesunder the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the U.S. Constitution and 28 U.S.C. Section 1738. However, when enforcement or recognition is sought abroad
This article introduces seven practical cultural metaphors that illuminate how cross-cultural misunderstandings arise in family court and how judges, attorneys, and mental-health professionals can more accurately interpret parties’ conduct, communication, and motivations. Drawing on
This article analyzes the “pyramid of power” as a defining framework of authority and hierarchy within traditional Iranian families and explores how this structure shapes legal rights, obligations, and dispute-resolution outcomes under Iranian law
Bridging Traditions: Prenuptial Agreements and Mahr in Cross Cultural Marriages was first published in The Daily Journal on October 24, 2025 as part of Abbas Hadjian’s “Culturally Speaking” column. The main points of the