Divorcing someone of another nationality can be legal and emotional nightmare.
Divorcing someone of another nationality can be legal and emotional nightmare. Monday evening sees MEPs debate a new Europe-wide guidelines that would clarify which country's Courts have jurisdiction in such cases. This could help clarify who would get custody of children and property. In Europe there are over 170,000 such divorces a year.
To give one example: A Portuguese lady marries an Italian man in Rome. After two years they separate and go back their respective countries. Ultimately they decide to divorce. Which law should then apply? The Italian courts would apply the law of the State “where the marriage has been principally based”, whereas the Portuguese courts would instead apply the law with which the spouses have the “closest connection”. The present situation is clearly ripe for confusion. The EU currently has no competence to legislate in matters of substantive family law such as divorce. Foreign people, foreign Courts The woman who has drafted a report for the Civil Liberties Committee is German Socialist MEP Evelyn Gebhardt. Her report is being debated Monday night in Strasbourg To highlight the issue she herself raised the hypothetical situation of how a Latvian couple living in Belgium could find themselves under Belgian jurisdiction even if one had applied for divorce to a Latvian Court. She called for greater public awareness of the problem and said it was essential that “our citizens can really benefit from their rights”. The proposals from the European Commission want to ensure people have access to Courts as well introducing greater flexibility by allowing people to choose the relevant law or Court. It also wants to prevent the “rush to Court” by the party which is more familiar with the law and therefore seeks to benefit from it through a quick settlement. Whilst Britain opted out of the measures, Sweden has rejected it and the Netherlands is known to be sceptical. However, nine countries - Italy, Bulgaria, Spain, Romania, Austria, Hungary, Greece, Slovenia and Luxembourg want to press ahead with the measures under the enhanced cooperation procedure. More flexibility and information urged Ms Gebhardt and other members of the Civil Liberties Committee want people informed of their rights and more precise wording of relevant documents. She also wants the law of the country where the marriage took place to be an option for people to choose from. The German MEP also believes that countries should inform people of when the law changes and that domestic law should apply.
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