Legal Question in Immigration Law in Nigeria

I have been divorced for over 25 years. Last night my children contacted me and told me their father, who is 73, is planning to marry some woman from Nigeria whom he met on-line. In fact, his words to them were "My wife is coming", indicating the possibuilty that some sort of proxy marriage ceremony, legal or otherwise. may have taken place.. They have been told that Nigeria is one of the top leading countries for marriage scams in which the woman takes the money and either does not come, or worse does come and takes the guy for all he has got. Now my ex doesn't have much, never did, but the children fear she might run him as deep into debt as possible and then leave, leaving them to be held responsible for his debtsd when he dies.

My oldest plans to contact Immigration and Customs enforcement, to see if there is anything they can do. Could the children possibly have him declared mentally incompetent and unable to contract a marriage, solely due to his age and the fact that he has fallen for such a probable scam?


Asked on 2/09/11, 11:40 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Chukwuyere Izuogu

I doubt if a valid marriage under Nigerian law has been contracted while it is possible that this may be a marriage scam there is little one can do without the identity of the "woman" in question. Usually, this woman will definitely need an invitation from your former husband to visit the States, so I would suggest that you contact the ICE to take note of any visitor from Nigeria intending to visit him. You could also have the cyber crime help desk of FBI call to advise him about the dangers of meeting strangers on line. Its a long shot though but its worth trying.

From experience, this so called woman may not even be a woman.

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Answered on 2/10/11, 1:35 am


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