Separation and Divorce

Should you or your spouse wish to apply for a separation or a divorce, you will need to fill in a petition for separation or divorce to be filed with the regional State Administration.

As spouses, you may be divorced without a prior separation, if you agree on a divorce.

If your spouse does not agree, you must be separated for six months, before the State Administration may grant a divorce. You may file a petition for divorce with the State Administration, even if your spouse refuses to co-sign. In that case, you will both be summoned to a meeting at the State Administration, where you will receive assistance for the purpose of moving on and finding a solution.

In certain situations, you may be divorced without a prior period of separation, even if you do not agree on the divorce, viz. in the following situations:

• If you have been living apart for the past two years due to disagreement;
• In case of adultery on the part of you or your spouse (in that case, the third party involved must sign a special third party declaration, confirming the sexual relationship with the party committing adultery);
• In case of deliberate violence and/or sexual abuse committed by you or your spouse against the other spouse, your children, the family’s nearest relatives or other children;
• In case either of you has committed bigamy; viz. being married to several persons at the same time;
• In case you or your spouse is guilty of either wrongful removal of the children out of this country or wrongful retention of the children abroad

How is a divorce conducted?

In the first place, we recommend you to fill in the petition for separation or divorce, accessible on the website www.familieretshuset.dk

Subsequently, we recommend you to contact a divorce lawyer, who may assist you in securing that the papers are correctly completed; e.g. to avoid any unintentional waiver of your right to receive spousal maintenance. It is therefore a good idea not to file the petition for separation or divorce until you have contacted the divorce lawyer.

After the meeting with the divorce lawyer, the petition will be submitted for consideration with the State Administration, and your divorce is now being processed. Subsequently, you and your spouse are required to separate within three months and to avoid resuming marital relations. If you do, the separation will lapse, and you will have to start all over again.

If you agree on the separation or divorce and the conditions thereof, the State Administration will issue a grant for legal separation or divorce. Subsequently, you will be separated or divorced with effect as from the date of the issue of the grant.

If you fail to agree, you will be summoned to a meeting at the State Administration – a so-called negotiation of conditions – where a case officer will assist you in finding a solution. It is not possible to opt out of such meeting.

If you reach an agreement at the meeting, the State Administration will issue a grant for legal separation or divorce.

If you continue to disagree after the meeting, you may ask the State Administration to forward the case to the court. Subsequently, the case will be finally determined by the court.

Should you have any questions to the above, please feel free to contact us by telephone +45 7015 1000 or email to: mail@70151000.dk