KINGSTON – Justice Minister Delroy Chuck believes “charlatans” including members of the legal profession are behind a divorce racket in Jamaica.
He told television viewers that many married couples who have been granted a degree absolute officially ending their marriages may find that the document has been forged.
Chuck said less than four weeks ago a law firm “actually sent a letter to the Chief Justice and copied to me where about nine or ten divorce cases, allegedly coming from that law firm, were actually issued decree absolute which were clearly fraudulent”.
“Although the law firm name is on the bottom of the decree absolute the law firm had nothing to do with that,” he said.
The authorities are also investigating a case in which a decree absolute contained the signature of an acting judge.
“So it means that there are some charlatans, maybe attorneys, or maybe paralegals who have taken it upon themselves to hoodwink persons that they could do divorces for them, and that’s is why I urge persons if they have decree absolute to please check to make sure that these are genuine,” Chuck said, adding that recently a police officer was hauled before the courts for involvement in the racket.
“Up to two weeks ago, a police sergeant was implicated in this where she actually said she can get divorces for overseas clients and actually . . . assisted some of these overseas clients with these fraudulent decree absolute.
“So this police sergeant was implicated and to the best of my knowledge that matter is before the courts,” he said, adding that over the past year, the courts have been able to deal with marriage issues within a six month period.
“And by the end of this year, the Chief Justice has promised that probate and matrimonial matters will be up to date, which will be fantastic,” Chuck told television viewers. (CMC)
