Appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Monroe County (Elma A. Bellini, J.), entered July 25, 2011. The judgment, among other things, declared that a Florida judgment of divorce is valid.
Memorandum: Plaintiff commenced this action seeking, inter alia, a declaration that a judgment of divorce obtained by defendant in Florida is invalid. In 2002, defendant traveled to Morocco and conceived a child with plaintiff, a Moroccan native. The parties’ child was born in Florida in July 2003 and, in March 2005, plaintiff and defendant were married in Florida. Thereafter, the parties resided together in Florida for one or two months before plaintiff moved to New York City. In January 2006, defendant filed a petition for dissolution of marriage in the Circuit Court for the Ninth Judicial Circuit, in and for Orange County, Florida (hereafter, Florida court), asserting that the marriage was “irretrievably broken” and that she and plaintiff had no children in common. Defendant submitted an “affidavit of diligent search and inquiry,” in which she averred that plaintiffs current residence was unknown to her and that she had made a diligent search and inquiry to discover it. Defendant then served the petition upon plaintiff by publication in a local Florida newspaper. Plaintiff did not respond to the petition or appear in court, and a default judgment was entered against him. In April 2006, the Florida court granted a final judgment of dissolution of marriage (hereafter, divorce judgment).
According to plaintiff, he first learned of the divorce judgment in or about June 2010, when deportation proceedings were commenced against him. On July 29, 2010, plaintiff moved to set aside the default judgment in the Florida court, asserting that he failed to appear in the divorce action because he did not receive a summons or petition. Plaintiff further alleged that defendant fraudulently obtained the divorce judgment inasmuch as she falsely stated that she did not know where plaintiff lived and that the parties did not have any children in common. After a hearing, the Florida court denied plaintiff’s motion on the ground that it had been filed more than one year after entry of the divorce judgment (see Fla Rules Civ Pro rule 1.540 [b]).
Plaintiff thereafter commenced this action seeking a declaration that the divorce judgment is “invalid and of no force and effect” because it was fraudulently obtained. By the judgment on appeal, Supreme Court, inter alia, determined that the divorce judgment should be granted full faith and credit, and thus declared that the judgment was valid. We affirm.
“A divorce judgment of a sister state made in an action in which both parties were subject to the personal jurisdiction of the court is entitled to full faith and credit by the courts of this
Here, plaintiff does not contend that he lacked the requisite minimum contacts with Florida such that allowing the divorce action to proceed in that state deprived him of due process (see generally Steven M. Garber & Assoc., 87 AD3d at 1296). Indeed, it is undisputed that the parties were married and thereafter lived together in Florida, and that their child was born in Florida (cf. Matter of Herrmann v Herrmann, 198 AD2d 761 [1993]). Rather, plaintiff contends that the Florida court lacked personal jurisdiction because defendant failed to serve him personally with the summons and petition in the divorce action in accordance with Florida law (see generally Vertex Std. USA, Inc., 16 AD3d at 1164). We reject that contention.
Under Florida law, the summons and petition in a divorce action “shall be served upon the other party to the marriage in the same manner as service of papers in civil actions generally” (Fla Stat Ann § 61.043 [1]). As a general rule, service of process is made by delivering a copy of the summons and petition to the person to be served (see Fla Stat Ann § 48.031 [1] [a]). “[S]er-
As a condition precedent to service by publication, the plaintiff must file a sworn statement (see Fla Stat Ann § 49.031 [1]), asserting therein, inter alia, ££[t]hat diligent search and inquiry have been made to discover the name and residence of such person,” and “that the residence of such person is . . . [u]n-known to the affiant” (Fla Stat Ann § 49.041 [1], [3] [a]). The notice must be published once per week for four consecutive weeks in a newspaper published in the county where the court is located (see Fla Stat Ann § 49.10 [1] [a]), and proof of publication must be made by affidavit of an officer or employee, among others, of the newspaper (see Fla Stat Ann § 49.10 [2]).
Here, defendant signed an “Affidavit of Diligent Search and Inquiry” (Fla Family Law Rules of Pro form 12.913 [b]), swearing that she “ha[d] made [a] diligent search and inquiry to discover the name and current residence of’ plaintiff. Defendant further averred therein that plaintiffs “current residence [wa]s unknown to [her],” and she signed the affidavit under penalty of perjury. A publisher’s affidavit of publication confirms that the notice was published for four consecutive weeks in a newspaper in Orange County, Florida, the situs of the Florida court. Thus, defendant established that she constructively served plaintiff by publication in accordance with Florida law (see Fla Stat Ann § 49.021 [1]; § 49.031 [1]; §§ 49.041, 49.10 [1] [a]; [2]).
Plaintiff contends, however, that defendant committed fraud in procuring service of process by publication because defendant knew where plaintiff lived and how to contact him. Plaintiff s contention may have merit in light of the undisputed fact that defendant visited plaintiff in New York and stayed at his apartment several months before she commenced the divorce action. Once it has been determined, however, that a sister state properly exercised jurisdiction over a party, our review of the foreign judgment ends and we must accord full faith and credit to that judgment (see JDC Fin. Co. I v Patton, 284 AD2d 164, 166 [2001]; see generally Mortgage Money Unlimited, 1 AD3d at 774; Siegel, NY Prac § 471, at 797-798 [4th ed]).
We have reviewed plaintiff’s remaining contentions and conclude that they are without merit. Present — Centra, J.P., Fahey, Peradotto, Carni and Sconiers, JJ.