Divorce by mutual consent - General case

Each spouse duty have a lawyer to divorce by mutual consent.

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 these costs.

Divorce by mutual consent by privately signed document Countersigned by lawyers is possible if the following conditions are met:

• The spouses agree on the divorce
• The spouses agree on the effects of divorce (division of property, parental authority, maintenance, compensatory benefit)
• Each of the spouses has a lawyer
• No minor children of the spouses informed by their parents of their right to be heard by the judge does not request to be heard
• None of the spouses is subject to one of the schemes for the protection of adults (guardianship, trusteeship or safeguard of justice)

No minimum length of marriage is required.

Spouses do not have to disclose the reasons for divorce.

Lawyers draft a convention that must mention the spouses' agreement on the marriage breakdown and the effects of divorce.

In particular, the agreement shall include the following information:

• Loss or retention of spouse's name
• Conditions exercise of parental authority
• Mention that the minor was informed by his parents of his right to be heard by the judge
• Payment or non-payment of compensatory benefit
• Liquidation statement of the matrimonial property regime

The lawyer shall send the draft agreement to the spouse whom he is assisting by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt.

The draft may not be signed by the spouses before the expiry of a reflection period of 15 days from the reception.

The convention must be signed together by the spouses and their lawyers in 3 copies. Each spouse shall keep an original of the agreement together with its annexes. On the 3rd^e original is for the notary.

The agreement shall be forwarded to the notary, by one of the lawyers, within 7 days following the date of signature of the agreement. The notary keeps it as a minute.

The notary checks the presence of the mandatory indications in the agreement and whether the reflection period of 15 days has been respected.

He does not receive the spouses and their lawyers.

The deposit of the agreement with the notary allows the agreement to be given certain date and enforceability, i.e. the Convention is now applicable.

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

Your lawyers must send an application to the mayor of the place of marriage accompanied by a certificate of deposit issued by the notary.

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.

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, ...

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

You can also update your family booklet.

The cost of divorce varies with lawyers' fees, goods to be shared, notary's fee and procedure.

Each spouse must pay his or her lawyer and his or her fees are set freely with him or her.

A spouse with insufficient resources to initiate divorce proceedings may apply legal aid.

The divorce agreement lays down the apportionment of the costs of divorce between the spouses. The agreement may not charge the party receiving legal aid more than half of the costs of the divorce. If the agreement is not clear, the costs of divorce are shared by half.

The deposit at the notary of the agreement amounts to €41.20 excl. tax (€49.44 TTC).

Notary fees may be added if the agreement includes a statement of settlement relating to immovable property or an allocation of immovable property under a compensatory benefit.

Right to share

When the spouses divorce, they must share the property they had together (movable, financial and real estate).

A tax is imposed on the net value of the assets shared between the spouses, after deduction of any debts.

This is called the right of sharing.