Travel website promotes 24 hour divorces

A travel website is offering overnight divorces in packages to the Dominican Republic.

The £4,500 service, which includes air fares, hotel and paperwork, flies one or both partners out where a judge can complete the divorce in a ten minute hearing, reports the Daily Mail.

QuickdivorceUK.com, set up by Bridgend-based couple Aimee and Benjamin Edwards, claims that the Dominican Republic law allows British citizens to be treated as domiciled there even on a fleeting visit.

Following the hearing, a couple can either return to the UK that afternoon or enjoy a holiday on the island.

The internet company which launches today says the decrees obtained in the Dominican Republic would be recognised in the UK.

Under British law, divorces abroad are recognised only if one of the parties is a national, a habitual resident or is domiciled in the country where it takes place.

However, independent legal experts warned that they might not bear up to scrutiny if any aspect of the split was later contested.

A divorce in Britain takes at least four months, even when both partners are keen to proceed. For no-fault divorces, couples have to undergo two years of separation before they can even initiate proceedings.

In 1998 singer Mariah Carey ended her five-year marriage to record company chief Tommy Mottola in the Dominican Republic and Mia Farrow and Andre Previn"s divorce papers were also filed there.

By Diane Evans