Delaware has adopted the Uniform Foreign-Country Money Judgments Recognition Act (“UFCMJRA”), promulgated by the Uniform Law Commission in 2005.  The enactment of the UFCMJRA became effective immediately upon Governor Jack Markell’s signing of Delaware House Bill 104 on June 28, 2011, which amended Chapter 48, Title 10 of the Delaware Code.  To view the new statute, click here. 

UFCMJRA is intended to update the Uniform Foreign Money Judgments Recognition Act of 1965 (“Former Act”), which Delaware had previously adopted. UFCMJRA builds upon the established principles of the Former Act in a necessary upgrade for the modern day and establishes clear and uniform standards under which state courts will enforce the foreign-country money judgments that come within its scope.

While similar to its predecessor statute, this bill makes several notable distinctions and clarifications, including:

• requiring that a judgment must still be enforceable in its country of origin, or, if the country of origin does not have a relevant statute of limitations, providing a 15-year statute of limitations on enforcement in the enacting jurisdiction;
• expressly providing that judgments entitled to full faith and credit under the United States Constitution are not subject to the statute;
• establishing simple court procedures for the enforcement of foreign-country money judgments;
• addressing burdens of proof for the first time, in that a petitioner for recognition has the burden of proving a judgment is entitled to recognition under the standards of the bill, and that any respondent resisting recognition and enforcement has the burden of proof respecting denial of recognition; and
• revising the grounds for denying recognition of foreign-country money judgments.