Divorce - can you choose the country where you get divorced?

[lovelypants]

I'm currently looking into divorcing my DH. We have links / finances to several countries.

Can anyone let me know if you can choose the country where you file for divorce in? And if so, what are the criteria?

From my preliminary investigations it looks like I would probably get the best settlement from the UK, although I am not currently living in the UK so does this prevent me from filing in the UK?

thanks.

My understanding is that you need to divorce where you are legally domiciled.

A friend was recently given the advice in the UK that she could divorce there since she has kept some ties (bank account, GP, etc). This turned out to be wrong advice, as she found out to her horror.

I think it depends on your domicile, and proving your domicile can be tricky I think, unless it is very clear cut.

This is a minefield because of the domicile issue, and not all UK family solicitors are aware of the (newish) rules.

I was told eventually that the only surefire route is to move back to the UK for 6 months before filing divorce papers. Though if your husband agrees to a UK divorce it may be possible to do it from abroad.

You need specialist advice from an international divorce lawyer.

bugger. would get rubbish settlement in current country.

we have been in current country for about 1 year but only here on fixed term work / dependent visas. for various reasons, i need to file for divorce in the next 6 months and am unlikely to be able to move before then :(

yes, trying to get advice. v complicated due to number of coutnries concerned, should hopefully get more clarification next week when seeing some lawyers.

Think DH may be thinkign along similar lines so want to learn as fast as much as fast as possible!

lovelypants - OK, you have been in your current place of residence for 1 year, but how long have you actually had residence papers for? If that is less than 6 months, you might have a shot at a UK divorce.

I've had a dependants visa for about a year, so UK divorce not looking promising. Annoyingly our current coutnry of residence would offer the worst settelment for me out of the several countries we have links to.

fortunately, i think it is unlikely that DH would file for divorce in our current country since it would cause considerable problems for him, so hopefully that will work in my favour.

Definitely get legal advice. If you are both domiciled in the same country, then that country has the strongest claim to govern your divorce, indeed. But all may not be lost: since family is a very national thing, national courts rarely recognise any precedence for another country's courts.

Are all the countries concerned in the EU? Pretty much the only hard and fast rule under EU law is that the country where divorce is filed first keeps the case, even if a suit is filed in another country (perhaps one with a stronger claim) at a later date. So if you get legal advice that you do have a legal basis on which to file in the UK, if you file there before your spouse files anywhere else then the divorce will happen in the UK rather than in your current country. Same applies for him if he files first in your current country, of course.

since family law* is a very national thing

I very recently looked into this and had a quick email with a lawyer in the UK (although not in England).

Basically, I would need to be resident in the UK for 3 months before I could file in the UK.

Like you, my chances of best settlement is in the UK.

I looked into moving back with my DCs and have applied to schools etc for September.

thanks for the advice.

Uk sadly looking unlikely to file divorce, but still trying to get the legal situation sorted.

good luck Spree with your situation - it is definitely a bummer getting divorced over seas.