Duration of Separation before get a divorce

Family, Education, Health and Pets
1
Hi....

I would be grateful if anyone could share your experience regarding the legal separation through Swiss Code of Civil Law.

My husband is swiss and I am non-swiss. We have 1 child together.

Right now, we live outside the country.

For some reasons, he quits the house 1 year ago and now he told me that he sees someone.

I used to work but since we have baby, he asked me to stay at home and I have been 11 years staying at home to take care of the child and house hold.

my questions are :

1. how long we could do separation before get divorce (for the seek of our child, I would never agree for divorce)

if, by the end, I must give him a divorce

2. Is he entitled to support me and my child fully as I don't work?

3. what would be the amount if his salary is CHF 10K (just an example)?

4. what other elements could be divided (pension funds, property, saving, etc. I think heritage is not included, right?)?

Thanks so much in advance for your feedback.

Lily

2
If you live outside Switzerland you may be better to start a divorce in your own country under your own laws; generally Swiss law is not very generous to divorced ladies & other countries laws are better (not always of course).

3
Despite any well meaning advice you may receive, the only advice is to seek advice of a legal representative in the country you are resident in.

Nothing is clear cut, and circumstances vary. Seek local legal advice.

4
Hi Lily

No his heritage is most definitely NOT included.

5
It all depends ...so EF is really not the best place to ask as we have no real idea of your exact circumstances,the laws where you live, etc.

Your child is now eleven according to your post, so many would consider that although you didn't work in the past, you could go back to work now he is older, for instance. How long do you think a mum can be 'paid' to stay at home to look after a child?

A Swiss friend of mine, married to a Swiss, has been trying to divorce his wife for 12 years ...and it's still not over! (struuuuf)

6
Thanks for the feedback.....

Marton, we are living in middle east now. so to start the process by using a local law is totally not an option. they will use religion, which is islam, as a rule.

I just want to make sure that me and my daughter (9years old which is also swiss citizen) have tangible guarantee that he will support us fully as he is the one who willing the separation.

We only married civil in Geneva. we didn't register our marriage in my country. I guess when we want to get legal separation, we must go back to geneva, isn't it?

Odile.... 12years and still not get the divorce... I thought it is 4 years separation (I am not sure) and after 5 years without doing anything, it will be automatically divorce (like UK law), but 12 years !!!???

friend of mine get divorce after 9 years but it was in year 2001....

by the end, it is all about money, unfortunately...

7
Your husband can file for divorce without your consent 2 years after you separated under Swiss law. What he did, has done etc is totally irrelevant as divorce here is "no fault". The law also states very clearly what you are both entitled to which is 50% of assets amassed since the date of your wedding, any assets owned by either of you before that date stay as personal property. Don't expect a huge alimony deal either as you will be expected to work if you can to support yourself & your daughter once she reaches the age of 10.

You really need proper legal advice though, get yourself a layer who can advise you properly. There are several threads on here looking for one to be recommended, check them out as a starting place if you don't know where to begin. All the best.

8
By mutual consent: both can file a few days after you separate, everything can be completed in 6 months

If one party disagrees: then you must wait for 2 years to pass before you can file without the other parties consent.

If the other party disagrees and the divorce becomes a battleground, then it can takes years and years to complete, with often the only winners being the lawyers.

NOTE: you can only divorce under Swiss law if you are resident of Switzerland. You appear to live outside Switzerland, therefore Swiss law will not apply to you.

(this rule is true for most countries: you must use the divorce laws of your resident country to file for divorce)

If the man is still inside Switzerland, he can file for divorce under Swiss law (which may be better for you as you may get better benefits, but this depends on where you live now)

9
About "NOTE: you can only divorce under Swiss law if you are resident of Switzerland. You appear to live outside Switzerland, therefore Swiss law will not apply to you.

(this rule is true for most countries: you must use the divorce laws of your resident country to file for divorce)"

What is your source for this? So far as I understand if one partner is Swiss resident then you can divorce under Swiss law also if it was a Swiss ceremony.

10
Personal experience:

A dual nationality Swiss couple, citizens of Switzerland and Country A, got married in country A, then moved to Switzerland

After some time the couple wanted to divorce.

As they were no longer residents of country A, they could not use the (easy and cheap) divorce procedure of country A.

They had to use the divorce laws of Switzerland, as Switzerland was their country of residence at the time of divorce.

But you made me think, and so I read the Ratgeber für Auslandschweizer .

And that says that fundamentally the laws of the country of residence apply. But some exceptions exist. Read for yourself:

Eheschutz

Grundsätzlich unterstehen die ehelichen Rechte und Pflichten den rechtlichen Bestimmungen des Wohnsitzstaates. Wenn Sie und Ihr Ehegatte im Ausland leben und mindestens einer von Ihnen Schweizer Bürger ist und es unmöglich oder unzumutbar ist, ein Eheschutzbegehren am Wohnsitz oder gewöhnlichen Aufenthalt von Ihnen oder Ihrem Ehegatten zu erheben, können Sie die schweizerischen Gerichte oder Behörden am Heimatort anrufen. Diese wenden schweizerisches Recht an.

Ausländische Entscheidungen oder Massnahmen im Bereich des Eheschutzes werden in der Schweiz regelmässig anerkannt, wenn sie in einem Staat ergangen sind, in welchem einer der Ehegatten lebt.

Trennung und Scheidung (ohne Nebenfolgen)

Unter den gleichen Voraussetzungen wie beim Eheschutz können Sie eine Trennungs-oder Scheidungsklage am Heimatort in der Schweiz erheben. Dies ist beispielsweise möglich, wenn der Wohnsitzstaat die Trennung oder die Scheidung nicht kennt, wenn die vom ausländischen Gericht angewandten Trennungs- oder Scheidungsbedingungen ausserordentlich streng sind oder der Kläger unzumutbarlange auf einen Entscheid warten müsste. In diesem Fall gelangt schweizerisches Recht zur Anwendung.

Eine Scheidung oder Trennung, die in Ihrem ausländischen Wohnsitzstaat oder demjenigen Ihres Ehegatten ausgesprochen oder anerkannt worden ist, wird in der Schweiz grundsätzlich ebenfalls anerkannt. Nicht anerkannt würde sie jedoch etwa, wenn dem Beklagten im Trennungs- oder Scheidungsverfahren das rechtliche Gehör verweigert wurde oder wenn die Entscheidung offensichtlich mit dem schweizerischen Ordre public unvereinbar ist. Gehört der Staat, in dem die Scheidung oder Trennung ausgesprochen wurde, dem Haager Übereinkommen über die Anerkennung von Ehescheidungen und Ehetrennungen vom 1. Juni 1970 an,

so richtet sich die Anerkennung nach dessen Vorschriften.

11
As others have said, potentially, your husband could file for divorce in Switzerland as he's Swiss. Normally, your country of residence is where you need to file for divorce (assuming you both live there).

However, even if you do manage to get a Swiss divorce with alimony and child support, it will be almost impossible to enforce payments as you live in the Middle East where Switzerland simply doesn't have the bilateral agreements to make your husband pay up.

12
Nonsense, you would just need to file a complaint in Switzerland, and they WILL enforce it, regardless of where you live.

Tom

13
That bit's not accurate. After 2 years if the parties cant agree a settlement then either party can take the whole thing to court for a judge to decide... might take a while but not 'years'

14
Only if the countries involved are signatory states of the cooresponding Hague Convention or New York Convention. Most middle eastern states have not signed any of the above.

15
Nor REMO

16
Hhhmm.... honestly it makes me scary after reading all your postings.

I feel really insecure now.... I thought, it because we married in Switzerland then when we want divorce, we have to go back to the place where we married. The country we live has no Swiss embassy (I have not read the german language rule that posted by friendlykiwi).

How about we come to switzerland very time we need to deal with it? I know it will cost alot of money but still cheaper than settle back in switzerland

Is it true that if Swiss married with non-swiss, the swiss law is always in Swiss citien side despite what ever he/she did (fault) ?

17
No, not true.

But, has already been explained, in Swiss divorce law there are no sides.

Tom

18
Thanks Tom... that is a relief to my feeling from being afraid of insecurity!!