Search Q&A
Question about divorce
I've read all the posts related to divorcing in Belgium. But something I don't get. If the couple is EU citizen, not Belgian, married in Belgium but at the embassy of their country, can they divorce with a Belgian law officer or does to need to be done in their country? Is there something like a European family lawyer that could do the process without the implicated partners having to travel? Maybe someone could guide me through, by your own experience or clarify a bit...
Thanks.
You would typically get "divorced" in the country where you were last resident together. It doesn't matter where you got married. Assuming that you both live here, then you can get divorced here.
My wife and her ex married in UK and they agreed to divorce in the UK on the grounds that she and I were, by then, living together in the UK.
Although all parties were agreed, it could not be done because the last place where she and her ex had lived together as man and wife was in Belgium. They had to divorce here.
It depends on the nationality of the couple and where they currently live, whether either of both of them can also claim to be domiciled elsewhere. Rome 3 might apply, country in which the couple last lived together, Brussels 2 might apply if one or other has now moved back to their country of birth. It might even come down to a paternal grandparent being born in a certain country to give eligibility to divorce in another EU country, even if barely there weeks.
Please think carefully about divorce, there are no winners.
@I
I'm sorry to disagree with you but my post above yours is based on actual experience.
My wife was born in UK. Her ex was born in Belgium.
They married in UK but last lived together in Belgium.
She had moved out and was living back in the UK with me.
They applied for a divorce in UK where she was born; where they had married and where she was then living. The judge was adamant that the divorce proceedings could only be heard in the country where the couple last lived together as man and wife. Nationality and current domicile of the couple was totally irrelevant even though all parties were agreed.
6 months in UK domicile for a British citizen born in England of an English born father and first petition gets UK, not where a couple was living. Brussels 2. UK has not signed up to Rome 3 which says country of living of couple. I wish it were not true. It makes no sense but the UK is one of the few EU countries which has not signed up to Rome 3, meaning you can be divorced without consent from another EU country in the UK, as unless you're very rich, there is no such thing in the UK any more as consensual divorce, it's no fault and too bad if you want to say no.
If not the English born person and English born father as well, you have to wait 12 month in England to divorce in that situation, so long as the other partner doesn't petition in Belgium first.
Divorce is horrid. Even more horrid when someone commits adultery prior to divorce. The other side and children can get so hurt. Sorry probably irrelevant, great if consensual, but the worst in the world when it is not and children lose a parent and money.
