Judicial divorce: the procedure

Verified 16 December 2024 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

You want to divorce but you can't agree on the consequences of divorce (custody of children, sharing of your property...)? You can initiate legal proceedings before the Family Court Judge. We'll tell you what you need to know.

Step-by-step approach

Each of the spouses duty get a lawyer to divorce you. You are free to choose the lawyer of your choice throughout the country.

Who shall I contact

You must sign a fee agreement with your lawyer to to fix his fees.

If you don't have enough resources, you can legal aid to cover all or part of the costs of the proceedings (lawyer, Commissioner of Justice).

Warning  

If the lawyer you are handling your case is not located within the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal of the court seised, he or she must go to a second lawyer, called applicant lawyer. The applicant lawyer performs the procedural acts in place of your lawyer (for example, he files the conclusions).

It's up to your lawyer to do what's necessary to seize the family affairs judge.

The court shall be seised by a subpoena in divorce.

If both of you agree to divorce, you can go to court by a request joint.

Divorce Summons

If you are the spouse requesting divorce, your lawyer must write the subpoena with you.

This summons is then transmitted by a commissioner of justice (formerly a bailiff) to your spouse.

The family judge is seized as soon as the summons is filed in court by your lawyer.

If you are the addressee of the divorce summons, you are the defendant spouse. In this case, you must to take up a lawyer within 15 days if you want to take part in the procedure.

The summons constitutes the conclusions the applicant spouse, i.e. his or her claims and arguments.

It must indicate the type of divorce requested:

If you wish to request a fault divorce, the lawyer shall not indicate this in the summons.

Assignment can contain your requests for interim measures, that is to say what you want as temporary arrangement for your property and children during divorce proceedings.

Provisional measures may concern the spouses and may relate to:

  • Allocation of family accommodation and household furniture
  • Delivery of clothing and personal effects
  • Fixation of maintenance in application of duty of care
  • Organization of the spouses' assumption of their debts and management of their property
  • Appointment of an expert for the liquidation their wealth and finances.

Provisional measures may concern children and may relate to:

The assignment shall include the following mandatory particulars:

Joint Query

The joint application may be used when the spouses agree to go to court together for divorce.

However, you do not have to agree on all the consequences of divorce to use the joint motion.

The application must be drafted by the lawyer of one of the spouses and then filed in the court.

It may contain your points of agreement on the consequences of divorce.

Please note

you can apply for interim measures (temporary organization of your property and children during divorce proceedings) before the pretrial judge.

The orientation hearing takes place in the court hearing the application.

You will find the date and time of the summons in the divorce summons.

You can be present at the hearing assisted by your lawyer or ask your lawyer to represent you.

Folder Orientation

The orientation hearing may:

  • Declare that the spouses agree to a participatory procedure
  • Either refer your case to the reconditioning by providing a schedule with dates for the progress of your file
  • Refer your case to a hearing (where the divorce is pleaded).

Establishment of provisional measures

This hearing allows you to take provisional measures (such as allocation of accommodation) concerning yourself and your children (such as support payments).

You can waive interim measures. In this case, you retain the option to request interim measures later in the procedure.

Please note

In the event of a new fact, you have the option to ask the pre-establishment judge to amend or remove interim measures later in the procedure.

After the orientation hearing, the case enters a phase of the procedure called reconditioning.

With the agreement of the Parties, pre-processing may be replaced by a participatory procedure.

If the defendant spouse has not retained counsel and the plaintiff has not applied for interim measures, there is no pre-trial or participatory procedure. The divorce case is heard directly in a hearing.

Refurbishment

Spouses must prepare the case for trial.

During the preparation of the file, it is only your lawyer who is responsible for communicating with the court and your spouse.

The preparation period for the application is called the reconditioning.

During this period, lawyers must present their requests and their arguments (called means) in a named entry conclusions. The conclusions are prepared in turn by you and your husband. They shall be accompanied by supporting documents.

You and your spouse must exchange all your documents: that is the principle of adversarial.  All such documents and submissions shall also be communicated electronically, by counsel, at graft of the court.

A judge, called pretrial judge, is responsible for ensuring that your procedure runs smoothly. Checks the folder during status hearings.

At status hearings, the judge shall verify that the exchange of pleadings and documents between spouses takes place within the time limits set by the Council. He has powers. It may, for example, require a party to conclude within a certain period of time, close the case without a party's submission or cancel the case if its requests are not complied with.

Status hearings are held regularly until the case is ready for trial. They are taking place virtually : you don't have to go to court.

Please note

parties may make certain requests to the remediation judge, such as requesting an expert opinion (for example, a family medical-psychological opinion).

The duration of reclamation depends on the number of findings you exchange with your spouse, the timeline set by the pretrial judge, the nature and difficulty of your case.

Once the file is complete, the pretrial judge close trade and set the hearing date for your case. This hearing is called hearing.

You cannot provide new findings or journals after the status close date.

Participatory procedure

The spouses may decide to prepare their case without the intervention of a judge of the refurbishment. To do this, you sign an agreement with your lawyers participatory procedure. This Convention includes reciprocal commitments and guarantees and aims to put the case in a state to be tried.

In the course of the procedure, if you have found a common agreement, and if you wish, you can request to change the procedure by divorce by mutual consent.

On the day of the hearing, you must be represented by your lawyer.

Your lawyer can plead or simply file your case.

Please note

your attendance is not mandatory, but you have the right to attend the hearing.

At the end of the hearing, the judge gives the date of deliberate, i.e. the date on which the divorce judgment is handed down.

The judge may decide to issue the judgment on a date other than that originally provided for. In this case, a letter to your lawyer will indicate the new date of deliberation and the reasons for the postponement.

Your lawyer must hand you over a certified copy of the divorce decree.

The Family Court Judge pronounce divorce specifying the legal basis (divorce for permanent alteration of the marital relationship, divorce for fault, divorce accepted).

The judge also decides on all applications submitted by the spouses (effective date of divorce, compensatory benefit, residence and child support, use of spouse's name...).

Please note

The divorce may be refused. This is the case, for example, if you only apply for a divorce for misconduct but the judge considers that no misconduct has been established.

You can challenge the judgment in appealing.

The appeal may allow you to challenge the divorce itself (for example, if the divorce is pronounced wrong) or its consequences (for example, the amount of the compensatory benefit).

The deadline for filing your appeal is 1 month.

This period shall start from significance of the decision by a Commissioner of Justice.

Your appeal is to the court of appeal through a lawyer.

FYI  

If you and your husband do not wish to challenge the divorce decision, you can sign a act of acquiescence. This act simplifies the procedure, since each spouse declares to accept the judgment.

The mention of the divorce must be recorded in the margins of your marriage certificate and birth certificates of each of the spouses.

Your lawyers must address the divorce judgment to the Town hall of the wedding venue.

If the marriage certificate has been issued abroad, your lawyers must send the application to the Central Civil Registry Service (Scec).

The City Hall or the Scec transmits the information to the birth mayors of the spouses so that they too update the documents.

FYI  

you can take care of the request to update your marital status if your lawyer does not do so. In this case, you must provide a copy of your divorce decision and the certificate of non-call at the town hall of the place where the wedding is celebrated or at the Scec if you have married abroad.

This entry in the margin of civil status shall be obligatory so that divorce can be enforceable against third parties, i.e. known and recognized by the administration, the employer, etc.

This does not exempt you from informing third parties, one by one, of your divorce.

You must also do update your family booklet.

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