We are a couple that unfortunately have both decided to get divorced and we wonder how to proceed:
-Both EU citizens
-Married in our home country 3.5 years ago as my wife (girlfriend at that time) was still living there, then she moved immediately after the wedding here and got the same permit than me.
-Both residents in CH for the last 3.5 years (I came 9 months before than my wife)
-No kids, no house, just some savings.
I wonder if we can get divorced in our home country (and whether is possible, easier, cheaper, faster, better or not) even though we are resident and living here (B Permit both).
Horrible thing to manage when your feelings are destroyed. At least, we both agree is the best for us and we don't want to hurt each other, just the fair option taken into consideration many factors like one of us will return "home".
Not unless you both move back there. You can’t pick where you divorce, you have to be resident in the country to be able to do that. Since you’re here that’s Switzerland.
yes, but what happens if the country where you are from (and where you got married) does not recognize a divorce sentence from Switzerland (which I'm afraid is the case)? That would mean, for your home country, that you are not divorced there. Is that possible? I called the consulate and they told me that, but they need to double check...
Yes that is possible, I for example divorced 10 years ago in the Netherlands, and Switzerland does not recognise this which is giving me huge problems atm since I cannot even recognise my own kid which I have with my current partner. Also according to Swiss law my EX is the one to inherit my goodies if something would happen to me now since to them I am still married.
However divorce in Switzerland goes through a judge, and there is a treaty with obligates all members to recognise each other court verdicts unless public order/decency is in danger. So what country in the EU does not recognise a Swiss divorce?
And no you can not divorce in a country where none of you is signed in.
many thanks for the info: That's the other option, my partner is considering moving back home, then we can wait (not desired but perhaps the best option to sort out everything) till she is registered back there and signed off from CH and then start the proceeding there. I assume, as laws differs between countries, consequences for both may be different in terms of how to split the current assets, etc..
Please speak to the Spanish Consulate in Bern for accurate advice.
I married in Austria but divorced in the UK, and one of the first steps was to contact the Austrian Consulate in London to make sure that my marriage could be fully disolved in the UK. It took one phone call and a single page letter from the Consulate to confirm.
sure you can! why do you think so many wives divorce in the UK? you need little more than an address in the country you want to divorce in. these things are sadly always best done through a family lawyer. get advice from the best available not from a random internet forum.
not necessarily. and certainly no reason to give up swiss residence. you may or may not end up spending tens of thousands on the very (very) gray areas of jurisdiction to prove either way but i can tell you for a fact there are most certainly options. and you can most certainly be 'resident' (whatever that means in different places) in multiple countries.
the UK for example has no official concept of residence for british and (for now) EU citizens such as Switzerland does.
that works the other way - for the UK to prove you are a resident to get you to file taxes. there are plenty of situations that would not qualify for statutory residence but under which you can still legitimately claim residence for the purposes of divorce. if it was that clear cut people wouldn't spend years debating jurisdiction in court. a lot of people don't fit the mold/mould so easily...
statutory residence is for tax purposes. nothing to do with eligibility for divorce. if its clearly financially advantageous to divorce in one place over the other, the party with most to loose will have an interest in fighting it. trust me -
ask me how i know....
a lot of russian women divorce their non resident russian husbands in london due to the fairly extreme biases in each country, but there are plenty of more complicated, less clear cut cases too.
I don't pretend to know how divorce or the legal system works in Spain, but perhaps one or both parties could receive legal aid in their native country, after a period of residence.
I recently had a call with a spanish lawyer and she told me the next:
"As you are both spanish citizens, born in Spain and married in Spain, you have to get divorce in Spain, no matter where the hell in the world you live or which is your residence: You got married under the spanish laws and only a spanish judge can do it, either you like or not".
She also mentioned that after getting divorce in Spain, "you have to do some additonal paperwork in CH to have recognized the divorce sentence", otherwise for the CH authorities (tax system, whatever) you are still married.
I'm totally confused . I heard maaaaaaaaaaany diferent versions of the same topic from people living in CH, even lawyers!!!
Therefore I thought: Absolutely lack of knowledge and competence either here in CH or there in SP, lets figure out who is wrong.
Spain has its way of dealing with divorce, so does Switzerland. Apparently they're nor mutually recognised thus there are differences. Which may well mean divorce and recognitiion thereof may have different requirements in these two countries, requiring separate procedures (and potentially verdicts) by the two countries. Other country pairs are (perhaps were until recently) in the same situation, e.g. read up on mutual recoginition of divorce by Germany and Spain. Which is within the EU, mind.