Private International Law is the set of rules that determines the way two or more nations having a connection with an individual will deal with that individual if he needs a legal decision to apply.
It determines which of the two countries has the right to judge (has jurisdiction) and which will have its law applied.
While this might seem a tedious and uninteresting matter in general that should be left to lawyers to debate, it becomes a crucial matter if you are a person who often travels, resides in two or more countries or is following a spouse on secondment. You might often think that you are protected by the rules of your country while in fact this might not be the case at all. Indeed, sometimes your country's Private International Legislation might rule that for some matters you are bound by the law of the country that you are residing in, even if it is not a permanent residence.
If you take for example the rules applying in most Muslim countries, it is Sharia law that applies and most of these countries tend to rule that absent any other provision, this is the law that will apply. Imagine that you are a housewife and follow your husband to such a country and then things something happens to your husband or you fall out. Chances are that if he were to pass away, the provisions you had discussed would not apply if nothing legal like a registered will had been undertaken beforehand and you might end up with one eigth of what should have normally been fully yours to tend to your family. If you were to divorce in the foreign country, chances are that the judges would not apply the divorce provisions you are expecting them to. This is an extreme example but similar problems arise even in other countries as well because of the different internal rules between countries.
If you are a housewife and travelling with your husband, make sure that you get appropriate advice on what is the law of the country you will be living in and how the set of conflicts of laws map out with your home country. Indeed, it might not be the country that you grew up in and that you just left that is relevant but it might be the country of your original nationality that would be the one to check.
In any case, before you travel, always make sure that you check all the rules that apply in that country and keep yourself updated on a regular basis. One of my friends recently had the shock of finding out that German divorce and alimony rules had recently changed and made the UAE relevant for examining her case instead of Germany. Had she viewed the possibility of divorce, it would have been possible to check the status of the law and find out it was necessary to file urgently to avoid falling under the new law.
So remember, it is always better to be safe than sorry and get your situation checked before you travel.
No monkey business...
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