A Houston real-estate businessman's attempt to have his secretive Pakistani divorce recognized in Texas has collapsed after the state's highest court ruled his ex-wife was never given a real chance to fight it. The Texas Supreme Court rejected Mohammad Ali Choudhri's bid to enforce a 2013 talaq divorce from Hira Azhar, finding she had no meaningful notice or opportunity to be heard before it was finalized.
The case, decided this month, stretches back to 2008, when Choudhri and Azhar married in an arranged ceremony in Pakistan, according to the Texas Supreme Court opinion via Justia. Choudhri was 28 at the time and Azhar was 18. He had lived in the Houston area since he was three years old, the opinion notes, and Azhar joined him there in 2010. Over the course of the marriage, the couple accumulated what CourtListener describes as more than $100 million in community assets.
According to the same opinion, Choudhri sent Azhar back to Pakistan in 2012, ostensibly so she could renew her visa. While she was there, he moved to end the marriage. In January 2013, he divorced her without her knowledge through a talaq proceeding — a practice that under Islamic law allows a husband to unilaterally end a marriage through declarations of intent, without requiring the wife's consent. The talaq divorce was finalized that May.
A Five-Day Newspaper Notice She Says She Never Saw
The only notice of the proceeding, per the court's opinion, was a publication in a small local Pakistani newspaper posted just five days before the divorce moved forward. Azhar has said she never saw it. The Texas Supreme Court found that gap decisive, arguing that five days of publication in a single obscure outlet does not suffice to satisfy due process, and holding that she received no notice at all until two years after the divorce was already final.
Azhar returned to Houston in June 2015 and immediately filed for divorce in a Harris County court, seeking a division of the couple's marital property, as detailed by the same opinion. But the trial court instead recognized the Pakistani divorce as valid, dismissed her Texas divorce filing for lack of jurisdiction, and denied her any claim to the marital estate. The Texas First Court of Appeals later upheld that outcome.
Supreme Court Reverses, Sends Case Back
The Texas Supreme Court reversed both lower courts this month, ruling that the Pakistani judgment could not be extended comity because it was obtained contrary to fundamental principles of due process and natural justice. The court held broadly that international judgments should not be recognized in Texas courts when they are issued without due process or in violation of the state's public policy, and it sent the case back to the trial court for further proceedings.
As reported by Chron, Azhar should now be able to pursue her divorce in Texas under Texas law, giving her another shot at the marital estate that the trial court previously denied her under Pakistani principles. Separately, Choudhri has also been involved in bankruptcy litigation, and the National Bank of Kuwait has brought a federal lawsuit against him, according to the same reporting.
Part of a Broader Pattern in Texas Courts
The ruling is not an outlier. In a case known as In re Marriage of Sabir, a Texas trial court likewise declined to recognize a Pakistani divorce decree because the wife had not been properly notified, and an appellate court affirmed that the lack of notice made comity unavailable, according to Goldsberry Law. In a separate matter involving a Pakistani divorce certificate, a Texas court held that a U.S. court can refuse to recognize judgments obtained without due process, per Ronald Kauffman. In that case, the wife received no notice of the proceedings until after judgment had already been rendered, and the international decree was ultimately not recognized.
The Choudhri ruling also lands amid years of political friction in Texas over foreign and religious law in family courts. Texas Republican leaders have railed against the use of Sharia law in the state, and Texas leaders have implemented a range of anti-Sharia law measures, according to Newsline Local. The outlet notes that Texas enacted HB 45 in 2017 addressing foreign laws in certain family-law cases, and that a related court rule, Rule 308b, took effect in 2018.
Despite that political backdrop, the Texas Supreme Court's decision in Azhar's case was narrow and fact-specific: it turned on whether she had adequate notice and a chance to be heard, not on a categorical rejection of foreign divorces or religious legal traditions generally. For now, the case returns to a Harris County trial court, where Azhar will get the opportunity to argue for a share of the marital estate that eluded her for more than a decade.
