It is not news that Costa Rica is a sex destination, famous for legal prostitution and escorts virtually waiting for Gringos at the airport. Many foreigners who want to have a wild vacation choose this country specifically for that reason. There are Web sites that advertise sex tourism just like any other type of tourism.

Many others come to visit only to move here after they find out how easy it is to find nice-looking women. Most Ticas are very cute, friendly, affectionate, everything one could ever dream and never got from women back home. Whether one is paying for escorts or just found a nice girl casually, Ticas seem to always charm male foreigners.

Therefore, even though a tourist may consider Costa Rica a paradise for a playboy-like lifestyle — and while many do live like that — there is a group of male expats who have ruined their lives since getting involved with Ticas. Naturally, one would wonder how on earth can experienced, well-traveled and even wealthy men ruin their lives in the hands of nice, charming Ticas? The answer to this dilemma is not a simple one.

It is a well-known fact that many Ticas live off of the savings of foreigners who surrender to their nice, affectionate sexual charm. Although it is not considered prostitution, these women are self-proclaimed Gringo hunters, who sell their body and company for what they can get, and most aim to clean men’s bank accounts, take their properties and ideally marry, expanding their horizons and enslaving these Gringo-traps are open about their intentions because of a cultural belief that foreigners are walking wallets and an easy way to get a slice of the American dream. Culturally, a Tica who marries a foreigner is considered lucky, and saying that one is fishing for Gringos is not frowned upon, but rather admired and encouraged.

The real question is how an intelligent man experienced with women can be an easy prey for Gringo Hunters? The following stories might give some clues as to the reasons why this phenomenon is so common.

A 69-year-old Gringo falls desperately in love with a 34-year-old Tica, who visibly looks and acts like an escort. After dating awhile, she convinces the man to finance two credit cards, one for $4,000 and the other for $8,000. Then, she goes further trying to convince him to give her $40,000 for a property that she is planning to steal with the help of a dishonest lawyer, claiming that it belonged to her family and she needed to get it back because someone stole it from them. When the Gringo went to a lawyer for advice on her request, the lawyer gave him a reality check and kept him from coughing up the $40,000, but every time he takes the woman to lunch — he says — he ends up taking a trip to the bank afterwards and paying her debts.

A 58-year-old Gringo falls for a voluptuous 19-year-old Tica and decides to take care of her education. He teaches her how to drive and lends her his new luxury car after she has had her license for only five months. She destroys the car in a crash but suffers only minor scratches and bruises. If she had died, her family could have taken the Gringo to the cleaners by claiming in court that he was irresponsible in letting the woman drive.

Last but not least, a married Gringo has an affair with a much younger Tica, who openly says she decided to hunt him when she met him. When his wife becomes fatally ill and dies, he marries the Tica almost immediately. He takes her to the States with him, and they settle down there. She obtains her citizenship and convinces him to adopt one of her children. Now she is threatening to leave him if he does not adopt and help get citizenship for the rest of her offspring and grandchildren. Before meeting her, he was retired and had a small fortune, and now he is working again despite his age because he cannot make ends meet for his new family.

The stories above share common factors: The three men were past 50 years old when they met the Ticas and they had a financial status that allowed them to treat their dates nicely. The three women are not only much younger than the men, but they also conduct themselves like escorts, wearing skimpy clothes and acting sexy all the time, and they did not have a financial status that allowed them to take care of themselves when they first met the men.

The problem with these stories is that foreigners that fool around with that type of women are usually older than 50 and the only thing going for them is the cash. Most of them have not done a good job taking care of their appearance and cannot naturally attract younger women. They can only attract them monetarily. Most men know that and play according to the rules. However, they also set themselves up for losing it all . . . just for sex.

So, is it an addiction to sex that ruins those men? Can they not set a limit to how much they will finance the lives of those women and their families? What is it? It would seem unlikely that they would keep spending thousands to solve the woman’s problems if she were not their girlfriend.

The definition of a sex addict is a person who uses sex to escape depression or unhappiness about their lives, just like they would use alcohol, food or work. However, defining the Fool Gringo Phenomenon as a sex addiction seems a little extreme and too coincidental.

A local psychiatrist thinks that another reason could be an addiction to neuro-transmitters that produce feelings of pleasure from sex or affection, such as serotonin, dopamine or endorphins. People who are addicted to pleasure may endure unimaginable stress in order to get that rush. It might also be an addiction to toxic relationships, an attraction to drama that makes these men get involved in such a negative love life where they are being openly used, he said.

A more feasible possibility has to do with the legendary middle-life crisis. Young men who are dumb enough to let a woman manipulate them get tired of the cycle at some point, leave and find themselves someone better. On the other hand, older men who struggle with low self-esteem due to their age, failed marriages, work problems, among other aspects, may feel lucky to find a nice-looking woman at all, and, in turn, let the woman walk all over them. Middle life crisis has many ramifications, and it can create severe depression in males, leading to unexplainable behavior like getting into toxic relationships, forming a whole new family as if they were 20 in order to feel young again, or spending all their money on women and even going back to work to keep financing their mates or new wives.

Whatever the reason may be, the ugly truth is that the Fool Gringo Phenomenon is happening more and more in this country, and although they can seek the help of lawyers for certain situations, obvious manipulation is not penalized by law. Gringos cannot go to court for foolishly emptying their bank accounts in exchange for affection. Actually, if they get involved with the really spiteful Ticas, they can end up as victims of domestic violence scams or get sucked into costly child support cases.

Expats or tourists should make sure they have a truly good and financially independent partner who is watchful of their best interest. Sensible rules to avoid becoming a prey to Gringo Hunters include not marrying impulsively, not having children and not financing more than the normal expenses during their dates.

Complimentary Article in PDF Fomat

The inequities in Costa Rica’s family laws are in large part the fault of men. This is especially true in cases of domestic violence where men now have little or no rights. Women are now in control in this country, and they know it. Some find expeditious ways of making their male companions suffer.

Cases of violence by women on men are usually not reported to the authorities because of fear by men to be labeled as weak. In Costa Rican culture — as in many other cultures — admitting to being victimized by a woman means a man has lost his maleness, his superiority over women.

The fact that men do not protect themselves via this law has created a trap for them as well. By not reporting abusive females, men have set the precedent that women are victims and men are abusers by default, which has in turn given a legal advantage to women.

Due to an increase of family legislation in Costa Rica aimed to protect women, Ticas are now taking advantage of the sexism in the legal system, which allows them to get away with and profit from cruel lies about their male counterparts.

On another front, many women in Costa Rica have a multitude of children to live off the child support. Men believe having children is what they should be doing with their manhood and do not take contraceptive precautions Therefore, men end up trapping themselves into child support payments many have a very difficult time paying.

Here is a summary of Costa Rica’s family, financial support and domestic violence laws past and present:

Before the new domestic violence laws, the family code set forth some ways for a spouse to boot out a companion and to protect children. However, only in extreme cases was a spouse forced from the household. In a divorce, women were given priority with the home because of the cultural establishment of the woman as a domestic worker and the man as the breadwinner. Usually, there is no such thing as a permanent alimony except in cases where a spouse is up in years or handicapped in some way. So this is the reason, in a marriage — and out of marriage — women usually strive to have children because they know having children is the best way to get the most money from a husband or boyfriend in a divorce or separation.

The financial support law is strict in Costa Rica. Not only are parents and children mutually liable for financial support (in the case of elderly parents and adult, financially stable children), so are adult siblings to minor or disabled siblings, grandparents to grandchildren and vice versa. Therefore, an elderly expat who marries a Tica and has children or adopts her children, if he fails to support the children, his adult American children (if any) from previous marriages may have to pick up the tab for their father. However, it is easier said than done, since in order for the latter to happen, the suing mother would have to provide sound proof that she cannot provide a dime for the child and that they are literally starving.

The law against domestic violence punishes any physical, sexual, verbal and psychological violence among family members of any gender. As a rule, it has only been enforced by women who report abuse by their husbands or boyfriends.

To make it worse, it turns out that most of the judges in family courts are women, and some do not even request or accept physical or psychological evidence of the alleged abuse before they rule in favor of the woman. In fact, the law states that after all testimony and evidence have been analyzed in court, if there is still room to believe the occurrence of violence, the judge must lean towards the victim’s testimony. This in legal terms is called “In dubio, pro victima,” or “when in doubt, favor the victim.”

The bite to the domestic violence law is its protective measures. A woman can go in front of a judge and within a few hours get an order to toss her husband, boyfriend or lover out on the streets. In addition, the alleged abuser is then given a restraining order that prevents him from going into his house or have any contact with the presumed victim or their children.

Child support can be requested at the domestic violence hearing or by filing a separate case with the family court. Once they notify the man about the case, he has three business days to pay the provisional amount set by court under penalty of going to prison. In a divorce process, the judge, upon request, can also set child support and alimony for the woman.

Women in court — especially domestic violence cases — are totally and utterly given everything on a silver platter. No questions asked. Law officers say false abuse cases happen daily, and they cannot question them or fail to enforce the order to evict because protective measures are mandatory and immediate, regardless of any suspicious circumstances.

After applying protective measures, both the alleged abuser and victim are called for a hearing to which witnesses are also called. In false accusation cases, women can still easily get away by lying during the hearing. They just need two witnesses willing to lie for them. They know that even if the lies are noticeable, the system still leans towards them and “In dubio, pro victima” rules the game. There have been countless instances in which the whole court can see the alleged victim is lying and the judge still rules in the alleged victim’s favor. Even if the defense appeals the case, it can take years.

Expats have fallen victims to false domestic violence claims. As expected, as in the case of an elderly U.S. expat thrown from his house, the hearing did not go very well and the court ruled in favor of the alleged victims and their false story, even after the defense called the female housemaid to testify in favor of the innocent, elderly and disabled expat. Now he is at the verge of declaring bankruptcy, has no place to live and is on the verge of having a criminal record in Costa Rica.

After the domestic violence law was created, other female-oriented laws followed. The responsible fatherhood law empowers women whose children have been abandoned by their father to request a blood test to confirm the relationship and a child support amount.

Another legal tool for women is the sexual harassment law. Even though the law protects both genders, it is used mostly by women. This law, however, is not as lenient towards women as the violence law is, since the complainant has to provide sound proof that incriminates the accused man and plenty of witnesses to support the claim.

The latest addition to the female legal combo is the anti-discrimination law for women, which states that women should be treated as equal and not denied the same privileges men enjoy in any cultural sphere. The ironic aspect about this law is that even though it advocates the removal of any oppressive preconception about the female gender, it should also advocate for eliminating and condemning the favoritism and leniency towards women in courts, especially when the defense provides irrefutable evidence that shows the woman is lying.

Women have the upper hand in Costa Rica when it comes to family matters. Men are probably the culprits in this case because most men do not stand up for their rights as women do, thus tipping the scales against them.

The fact today is that the laws are so stacked against men here that the prudent male should never get married, live in the same place as the significant other or have children without full understanding of the legal consequences.

Complimentary Article in PDF Fomat

Most people have heard the Costa Rican dream story. A tourist comes for vacation, falls in love with Costa Rica and/or a Costa Rican, goes back home and sells everything or ships it down here to become an expat. This usually applies more to men than to women. In many cases older men find younger Costa Rican women, some with children from former relationships.

In many cases the Costa Rican counterpart, whether it be a wife or a husband, does not want to live here but wants to live in the United States and, most importantly, wants to be a U. S. citizen. Some even believe it to something of a prize they need to win to be happy and constantly pressure the expat to repatriate — go back to the United States to live — so they can get their citizenship.

Getting married by itself does not give a Costa Rican wife or husband U. S. citizenship. This is true for both expats and Costa Ricans who want citizenship in either country. Many expats do not want to go back to the United States, but some concede to do so for their new spouse.

The process for expats who have decided to move back to the United States and get their Costa Rican spouse residency and eventually U. S. citizenship is not overly complicated if one knows how to do it. However, putting everything down on paper and distilling it into a cheat sheet for expats who have made the big decision to move back took some doing.

In a nutshell, the process goes like this:

1. Applying for permanent residency.

2. Obtaining permanent residency.

3. Moving to and staying in the United States for the time period required to be eligible for citizenship.

4. Applying for naturalization, completing all requirements for the naturalization process, and obtaining citizenship.

5. Requesting citizenship for children

Applying for permanent residency

In order to apply for permanent residency, U. S. citizens are required to file a petition for their relatives. According to the U. S. Embassy’s website, the petition process for expats who have Costa Rican residency differs from expats who do not have it.

Expats with Costa Rican residency:

• Expats who have lived in the country for at least 6 months and have already obtained Costa Rican residency can fill out I-130 Petition for Alien Relative at the U. S. Embassy in Pavas on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from noon to 1:30 p.m. The petition costs $355. The embassy sends all petitions to U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

• Once the Citizenship and Immigration Services approves a petition, it is forwarded to the National Visa Center, which may contact the applicant if additional documentation is required. Once approved by the visa center, the petition will be sent back to the U. S. Embassy. No information is available as to how long this process takes.

• The embassy then contacts the expat for presenting their U. S. birth certificate and the document that proves their relationship to the Costa Rican relative, whether it is a marriage certificate (issued by the Registro Civil if the wedding took place in Costa Rica) or the birth certificate of their children.

• The expat must also provide documents that prove termination of any previous marriages by divorce or death.

• The embassy also requires proof of legitimate marriage relationship — provided by answering questions and showing family pictures.

• A medical exam ordered by the Embassy is required for the foreign spouse, as well as other requirements, including police records. This exam can cost around $250.

• Any documents in Spanish must be translated into English.

After all requirements have been filed, an interview is scheduled for the spouse, who should bring an I-864 affidavit of support that proves the expat has sufficient income to support the spouse without public benefits.

Expats without Costa Rican residency:

According to the Citizenship and Immigration Services website, expats who do not have Costa Rican residency must file the I-130 petition in the United States, at the citizenship office closest to their hometown.

After approval, the Citizenship and Immigration Services sends the petition to the Department of State’s National Visa Center to determine if a visa number is available immediately for the relative. Numbers are assigned immediately to spouses and unmarried children under 21. Married children will have to wait to get a visa number, but they can check its status in the Department of State’s Visa Bulletin.

Applicants should be aware that if permanent residency is granted before their second wedding anniversary, the residency will have conditional status, which means the couple must prove they have a legitimate relationship for two years after obtaining conditional residency. The couple must apply for removing the conditions on the residency by gathering the following documents:

•Filling out form I-751 (Petition to Remove Residency Conditions),

• Submitting a copy of the permanent residency card, showing evidence of their relationship (i.e. leases or property deeds that show co-dwelling/co-ownership, birth certificates of children).

Failure to apply for this procedure results in losing all residency rights.

U. S. citizens can obtain unlimited permanent residency for spouses and unmarried children under 21, and limited permanent residency for unmarried children’s minor offspring and married children, their spouses and minor offspring.

Obtaining permanent residency

The U. S. Embassy’s website states that after filing the I-130 petition, while waiting for approval from the Citizenship and Immigration Services, foreign spouses and children can obtain a K-3 visa and travel to the United States to become permanent residents through an adjustment of status, but this process is not immediate.

To apply for the K-3 visa, the following documents must be sent by mail to the United States Department of Homeland Security:

• form I-129,

• a copy of Form I-797 that states the I-130 petition was received by Citizenship and Immigration Services,

• additional forms requested in I-129 and

• a fee of $400.

While waiting for approval, if the foreign relatives wish to travel abroad, they need to request advance permission from the Citizenship and Immigration Services prior to traveling. Otherwise, they will abandon their visa applications and will not be allowed to return to the United States.

Moving to and staying in the United States for the time period required by the Citizenship and Immigration Services to be eligible for citizenship

The Citizenship and Immigration Services website states that foreign spouses may apply for citizenship after remaining in the United States for three years, during which they are not allowed to leave the country for more than 6 months at a time.

No information was available on the time period minor children must remain in the country before applying for naturalization.

Applying for naturalization, completing all requirements for the naturalization process, and obtaining citizenship.

Non-citizen spouses need to meet the following requirements:

• Contiguous residence in the United States for three years prior to applying,

• English language proficiency,

• Knowledge of United States history and civics,

• Good moral character,

• Adherence to United States Constitution principles,

• A positive outlook of the United States.

• Filling out Form N-400 along with a fee of $675 by check or money order (application $595, fingerprints $80) and sending it to the nearest Citizenship and Immigration Services office. Fees are non-refundable.

Even though no specific time frame was given for obtaining citizenship, the Citizenship and Immigration Services website claims the bureau has been trying to maximize efforts and complete the process in six months.

If approved, the immigration services will schedule an interview, right after which the applicant can attend the oath ceremony and obtain citizenship. If the applicant requests to attend the ceremony at a later date, he or she will have to make sure they do not miss the appointment. Otherwise, Immigration Services will close the case and dismiss the process.

If the application for citizenship is denied for lack of requirements and not because of eligibility violations, the foreigner may re-apply as many times as necessary until naturalization is granted.

Requesting citizenship for children

To obtain citizenship for youngsters, parents must file N-600 Application for Certificate of Citizenship, along with 2 photographs of the child, additional documentation to verify eligibility and a fee.

For adopted children, parents must file Form N-643, and when the children are older than 18, parents fill out Form N-400.

Once naturalized, all applicants receive a U. S. passport and all the rights of a United States citizen.

For more information about the citizenship process, visit the Guide to Naturalization.

While helpful, this detailed account of facts and steps will not make the actual process less painstaking, but it will definitely save precious time otherwise spent gathering all relevant information. Some expats that have made the big decision to move back to the United States to make their spouse happy may just decide to stay in Costa Rica after reading this article.

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Second of two parts

Costa Rican girls — and boys — get into prostitution for a variety of reasons in Costa Rica. Most of the reasons have to do with family economics. Some households that cannot make ends meet push their kids into selling themselves.

In the campo, the countryside, some mothers tell their sub-teen girls to go hang out around the local bar to sell themselves to the patrons. The girls take their earnings home so the family can survive. In other cases, the mothers of these kids are just money hungry. The easiest way for them to make money is to pressure their children into prostitution.

Rufianería is the term used in law to describe this activity of pressuring someone — of either sex — into prostitution and living off those earnings. It is a voracious kind of pimping. It is more common in Costa Rica than most people believe.

Information for this article has been gained from a series of interviews with prostitutes who volunteered their life stories.

The young never have a chance to improve themselves. Prostitution is all they know from a very young age. As soon as they are older and they can fend for themselves, the family sends them off to San José or to one of the tourist areas in the country like Coco, Jacó, or Quepos.

In other cases, friends coax other friends into prostitution. They tell them about their lives in the big city where they can meet foreigners and make lots of money. Some of the young adults send some money home to support their families. Others get into drugs and pornography.

Prostitution is not on trial here. The vicious cycle is. The cycle that begins with mothers — and in some cases fathers — pushing their kids into prostitution to pay bills or worst yet, to pay for their vices. The police in Parque Morazán have seen fathers dropping their underage daughters off for work in the evening. The work the youngsters are given is to sell themselves as prostitutes to those in cars driving by the park or to the foreigners walking the streets.

Costa Rican law gives every adult the right to sell sex because prostitution is not illegal in this country.

The point is the children never become adults to decide if they want to sell sex. They are usually selling it way before they ever become adults because someone else pushes them into it. Once the cycle begins, it is almost impossible to stop. Young girls do not even finish sixth grade in school. With no education, they are doomed for the rest of their lives to prostitution. Usually, they have a multitude of children. It is common to meet a middle-aged prostitute with four, five or more kids.

What happens when the prostitutes are not young or cute anymore and they cannot sell themselves as readily as they once did? How do they feed all those mouths? Well, they end up on drugs or selling drugs to others. The children get no education and end up in prostitution, too. The boys usually end up in gangs and turn to a life of crime.

Many foreigners do not care where prostitutes come from in Costa Rica. They do not care about the social-economic problems that drive the young into such activity. They just want an ample supply when they come here for their sex vacations. Costa Rica’s lackadaisical attitude about pimping prostitutes contributes to the countries worldwide reputation as a sex tourism destination.

Costa Rica’s position on prostitution and pimping has put the country on the United States’ tier 2 watch list for human trafficking because women and children are trafficked in and out of the country for commercial sexual exploitation.

The country has become a mecca for foreign prostitutes because of Costa Rica’s sex tourism industry.

Most foreigners believe sex is a regulated business here. They believe the government controls prostitution and prostitutes run around with government-issued identification cards to prove they are free of disease. This is not true at all. Some of the major hotels that cater to hookers to increase their casino and bar businesses request identification but only to prove the person is an adult, nothing more. They do not request a health certificate.

The country may be on the verge of waking up. Sunday’s front-page headline in the country’s largest local newspaper is “Prostitutes work in massage parlors with business licenses.” The story was similar to that published here two weeks ago. These massage parlors are nothing more than businesses pimping the available prostitutes. The girls in these places usually work there and let themselves be pimped because they have a reason not to go to a local bar or hotel. They also like the mostly daytime hours.

Here are some other reasons: 1.) They are older or have lost their looks. 2.) They are pregnant. 3.) They are married or are involved in a serious relationship. 4.) they are in school or the university, or 5.) they are in Costa Rica illegally. Many of the girls in these places are from Nicaragua.

Curiously, pimping is illegal in Costa Rica but these establishments have business licenses, usually as a pension or rooming house. Everyone in the government and all the judicial authorities know and have known pimping goes on in these places. Everyone knows pimping is rampant in Costa Rica. It seems the country is exploiting its young and taking advantage of its disadvantaged for profit.

What is troubling is this attitude — sacrificing scruples for profit — goes beyond prostitution and pimping and exists deep inside the court system and politics as well.

Complimentary Article in PDF Fomat

First of two parts

Prostitution is legal in Costa Rica. The activity is legal because there is no law against it. In this country, if there is no law prohibiting something, it is legal.

The legality of paid sex has spawned a wide range of activities that are not legal. Yet Costa Rica makes no effort to enforce these laws, despite lip service to the contrary.

The criminal code lumps most of these illegal activities under the heading of pimping. The skeptical could call it, simply, marketing.

Costa Rica has become a magnet for the sex tourist. The country rivals competitors like Thailand, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Dominican Republic and Cuba. Brazil and the Dominican Republic are the de facto leaders for sex tourism in the Western Hemisphere, but Costa Rica is a serious contender.

The penal code prohibits pimping in Articles 169 and 171. However, pimping is widespread throughout the country, and the government is generally tolerating the activity. Pimping is the marketing engine that brings the customer and the prostitute together. Without pimping, there would be much less sex tourism.

There are two words for pimping in Spanish, proxenetismo and rufianería. Proxenetismo is the activity of promoting or fostering prostitution of either sex. Rufianería is coercively engaging another into prostitution for financial gain.

Wikipedia defines it this way: “A pimp finds and manages clients for prostitutes and engages them in prostitution (in brothels in most cases and some cases street prostitution) in order to profit from their earnings.”

Most every expat knows there are literally hundreds of brothels throughout San José and thousands throughout the country. The owners of those brothels advertise to get clients and manage the money for the prostitutes.

This is how it works: one goes into a brothel to have sex with a prostitute and pays another person for the activity. The owner keeps a portion of the proceeds, and the prostitute gets a percentage of the take. In other words, the owner of the establishment “finds and manages clients for prostitutes.” This is pimping. The government does not crack down on these locations or controls them in anyway.

There are other pimps selling sex that go unnoticed and uncontrolled. Who are they? Well they are taxi drivers, tour bus operators, guides, and — believe it or not — other expats.

These people arrange sex for anyone. They sell men and women, boys and girls. Some students — as in high school and university students — prefer to work with tour bus operators because they can hide their activity from their parents. Prices for a high school or university student can range from $100 to an astonishing $500 an hour because the prostitutes are outside the normal marketplace.

One extraordinarily beautiful 19-year-old called prostitution “her hobby.” She said she engaged in the activity because she came from middle class Costa Rican family and wanted more. Her family does not know she is a prostitute. A tour bus operator finds her clients, drives her to their location and picks her up when she is done.

Some expats also make their living arranging tours to Costa Rica for the sole purpose of assisting their customers in finding prostitutes. Others arrange sex tours of the local hotels and brothels to sample the menu. Others run online “peek shows.” Many of these activities would fall under a reasonable definition of pimping as contains in the Costa Rican code.

Try this test: Google these keywords prostitutes costa rica. The results of the test will reflect Web sites promoting sex tourism to Costa Rica. Foreigners including Americans — not Costa Ricans — own and run them. In many cases, customers must buy a package from the Web site for their sex vacation. This again is “finding and managing clients for prostitutes” or pimping.

Does Costa Rica try to control this activity? No, it does not. In some cases, fishing or property-finding trips to Costa Rica by foreigners disguise the real activity.

The Óscar Arias government seeks to crack down on casino operations because officials say such locations promote prostitution. No official says anything about the rampant pimping and prostitution visible and invisible all over the country. Only when underage youngsters might be involved do officials express dismay.

The visible includes the strip clubs that are just fronts for the activities that go on in the private rooms inside where the house takes a substantial cut.

One of the few — and the most famous — case in Costa Rica for pimping was the ring run by Sinaí Monge. She was accused and found guilty of pimping in 2004.

Her case was notorious because she allegedly arranged sex with minors for public figures, football players and even judicial workers. Although she was convicted, years of surveillance, wiretapping and detective work failed to get the goods on any other person. Her prison sentence was modest.

Why does Costa Rica not enforce articles 169 and 171 of the penal code?

Maybe because it would be an almost impossible task. It would mean closing down thousands of brothels throughout the country. Maybe it is because sex tourism is very important for the economy of Costa Rica.

On the other hand, it could be that prostitution is so much a part of the Costa Rican culture no one really cares.

Complimentary Article in PDF Fomat

This is how to trap an expat into marriage, a big payoff or a lifetime of alimony payments. It is not just a woman’s guide, but as public service to men and even expat women to save them from themselves in Costa Rica.

Many men come here to play around with women. Many of them are married in their home country, and they come here because playful women are plentiful and they seriously believe their wives will not catch them. Others are here because no other women will have them. A smaller number of women are in the same categories, but the sex most affected is male.

In Costa Rica, the one-sided laws favoring women get men into trouble and they usually do not even know they are in trouble until it is way too late. “Some women swindle with domestic violence law” and “Judges are a girl’s best friend when extortion’s afoot,” cover some of the ramifications of living with a woman in Costa Rica.

However, many have asked what constitutes a legal marriage in this country when two people live together. The answer is a surprise and so are the repercussions:

Here are two phrases every expat should know. “Union libre” means living together. In the 1960s it was called “living in sin.” Today such a state is called “committed relationship of mutual interdependence.” Costa Rica law upgrades two persons living together for three years to a “union de hecho” or union in fact. This means they are living together as if they were a married couple. In some parts of the United States, living in a committed relationship of mutual interdependence for six months designates two people as domestic partners. In Costa Rica, if two people live together for two years where one is 100 percent dependent on the other, the law states the dependant has rights to some type of financial support after a breakup. This has been true for some time, and many people do not know it. Constitutional Vote 0346-94 overturned as unconstitutional Article 49 of the Rules for Disability, Old Age and Death where children were a prerequisite for one party to obtain benefits and rights in a relationship of less than three years. Now offspring are not necessary.

In other words, expats who pay for their partner’s every whim are making a big mistake. Paying for everything makes the other member of the relationship a dependent, and the fine line between “union libre” and “union de hecho” narrows dramatically.

Girlfriends living as a dependent or past the magic threshold of three years of living in “union libre” can file a simple court case against their boyfriend to have the court determine them legally married. Once the case is decided, the woman can ask the court to validate their right to their mate’s assets. The rule of thumb is a 50-50 split of everything they can get their hands on or know about. If the man disagrees, the court will auction off everything and split up the dough.

The dependent partner can file an action up to two years after a breakup.

Some expats believe they are safe if they do not cross the three-year mark and they can do anything they wish. This is not true at all. They are damned from the outset in Costa Rica with many different laws a woman can use to hog tie a man and skin him financially.

What is really scary, and expat men need to listen up to save themselves from a big faux pas, the domestic violence law makes no distinction between “union libre,” or “union de hecho.” The law just refers to a relationship — any relationship no matter how short.
Gay activists in Costa Rica are petitioning the legislature to revalue the whole law regarding “union de hecho.” They want the time reduced dramatically in determining domestic partnerships following the examples of the United States and other parts of the world.

Instead of living together without a plan and eventual getting skinned, expats in Costa Rica could follow a new plan: They could exercise a little discipline in a relationship. And it would not be a bad idea to keep quiet about major assets outside the country.

If a man insists on getting romantically involved with a woman in Costa Rica, it is better to date someone with her own life and a real income — the emphasis here is on “real” — than a person that will be totally dependent. And those wealthy expat women who find Costa Rican boyfriends should also follow this rule.

An expat should wait a prudent time before thinking of marriage or moving in with a partner. Before marriage, an expat should sit down with a legal professional and draw up a prenuptial agreement with the proposed partner to protect assets.

Article 37 of the Family Law 5476 regulates these agreements between men and women in this country. Preparing a prenuptial agreement is done before or during a marriage outlining the distribution of past, current and future assets of the parties to the marriage.

Complimentary Article in PDF Fomat

Trusts can save the day in many cases in Costa Rica and avoid lawsuits or arbitration. In cases where litigation has already started, using a trust is a great way to get out of court. Most large development projects in Costa Rica — and small ones too — use trusts as the financial vehicle of choice. Literally, the possible uses of a trust is only limited to the imagination of the creators.

Most people — especially expats — think of trusts as they do wills. They are legal documents full of mumbo jumbo to take care of beneficiaries after one’s death. Trusts are much more than this here. They are dynamic legal instruments with many uses.

Here is a quick course. Once taken, pass it on to your legal professional. Most Costa Rican attorneys and notaries do not have a clue how to use a trust in this country.

Fideicomiso is the word for a trust in Costa Rica. There are five basic parts to a fideicomiso:

1.) trustor or fideicomitente,

2.) trustee or fiduciario,

3.) beneficiary or fideicomisario,

4.) trust property or bienes fideicometidos, and

5.) the trust contract or contrato de fideicomiso.

The fourth item, trust property, is the thing administered by the trust. To be valid, a trust must hold some property. Property may be any real or personal property like stocks, real estate, even cash, to name a few examples.

Of course, trusts that are more complex involve more parts, but these are the basic elements of basic trusts. An understanding of them is sufficient for most expats investing or doing business in Costa Rica.

In a nutshell, trust property is put into a trust by trustors, also referred to as grantors, donors or settlors, so a trustee or trustees can administrate the assets for the beneficiaries of the trust, according the terms of the trust contract.

Seems simple, but the devil is in the details, the details being the trust contract. That is why trust lawyers throughout the world make big bucks doing trust work.

Here are three ways to use trusts in Costa Rica:

Example one: a nasty legal matter of the heart: A woman – X – feels she has the right to everything an expat – Y- owns because she lived with him for a couple of years. The law clearly states it takes three years to quality for a “union de hecho” or common law union. However, due to the one-sided laws of Costa Rica regarding disputes between couples, she is successful in throwing the expat out of his house and onto the street with no place to live until the courts resolve the matter. In some cases, this can take years.

Really, the woman just wants a payoff, but the expat does not have all the money she wants. He wants his house back, and he does not want to wait for the courts to decide whether they will give it back to him.

The way to solve this dilemma with a trust is to have mediators, usually the couple’s attorneys, get the two to agree to a settlement amount. The attorneys than move the property into a trust they call Trust XY at the Registro Nacional with the agreement the lady will move out of the house immediately. There are no taxes associated with transferring assets into a trust.

Once the expat pays off the amount agreed to, the trust ends and he get clear title to his house back.
In this case, X and Y are the trustors as well as the beneficiaries. The attorneys are the trustees, the house and the payment amounts are the trust property, and the signed agreement is the trust contract.

Example two: building a condo project with little or no money: Two people get together, one owning a great building site close to the beach and another with building skills. The two go to the bank offering to put the land into trust for a construction loan. The trust also receives the title of the completed condominiums. Upon sale of the units, the two business people pay to the bank the agreed upon proceeds of each sale, and the bank transfers the deed out of the trust to the new owners.

Example three: trusts work great in a property sale when pieces of the puzzle are missing to complete the sale, as in when permits or other bureaucratic red tape is missing. Sellers wishing to sell put the property into a trust, and buyers wishing to buy put their money. They write a trust contract connecting transfer of the property and the payment based on completing the missing components. Once all the pieces come together, the trustees transfer the property to the buyers and pay the sellers.

Most banks in Costa Rica work in trusts. Banco Improsa is the most well-known in real estate development. Banco de Costa Rica is also very active and does not require their bank lawyers to write the trust contracts, which in many cases can save a lot of money. The cost to set up a trust vary wildly, so customers should shop around.

Trusts are incredible vehicles for those that know how to use them. Public notaries can hold them to make a trust private between parties. For more security or transparency, banks or trust agents make an excellent choice.

Complimentary Article in PDF Fomat