International divorce

What issues can affect my international divorce?

Many people facing the breakdown of their marriage now find that their situation has an international element. This could affect you if, for example:

• your marriage took place abroad
• either one or both of you were born in a country other than England
• you have lived for some or all of your married life in a country other than England
• you have property abroad
• you are concerned as to whether your marriage abroad or divorce abroad will be recognised in England
• you are concerned about child contact/residence or child abduction

International divorce in the UK is a particularly complicated field, as financial and other outcomes differ enormously from country to country. One particular factual situation may produce a very different result depending on where the divorce takes place. In international divorce law, the fact that a marriage took place in a particular country does not mean that the divorce also has to take place in that country.

Equally, where you were married or lived most of the time in England, it may be advantageous to one of you to be divorced in another country with which there is a connection.