Divorce

The very first question to be asked in divorce proceedings with an international character is which court has jurisdiction to hear a petition for divorce. The question of whether the Dutch court has jurisdiction to pronounce the divorce is determined on the basis of Dutch private international law (IPR). Dutch IPR contains European regulations, international treaties and national law. With regard to divorces, the Netherlands, like most EU Member States, is bound by the Brussels IIa Regulation.

The Regulation lists exhaustively the courts having jurisdiction in divorce proceedings. These are the courts of the Member State in whose territory:

• the spouses have their habitual residence (i.e. both live in the same country);
• the last habitual residence of the spouses is located, if either of them still resides there;
• the defendant has his habitual residence;
• in the case of a joint application: where one of the spouses has his or her habitual residence;
• the applicant's habitual residence is located if he has resided there for at least one year immediately preceding the filing of the application;
• the applicant is habitually resident if he has resided there for at least 6 months immediately preceding the lodging of the application and is a national of that country (or in the case of the United Kingdom: has “domicile” there);
• the spouses both have the same nationality.

In summary, both the place of residence of the spouses and nationality are decisive. The latter, however, only if both spouses have Dutch nationality. For further questions or information about the jurisdiction, you can contact contact us.