Individual Rights and Family Law
In Spain, if you want to be divorced, you will need a lawyer. Experience and commitment are important factors for a good legal proceeding.
The petition for divorce may be filed in court by one spouse or jointly by both of them. The advantage of a joint proceeding is that one common lawyer files a written agreement with all matters related to the divorce. This agreement is known as Divorce Settlement Agreement (Convenio Regulador de Divorcio, in Spanish).
In case of divorce, several steps have to be considered regarding child custody, child daily care, determination of the matrimonial domicile, visitation rights, child maintenance and spouse and legal dissolution of marriage.
If the parties do not reach an agreement, a unilateral petition for divorce may be filed with a lawyer defending the interests of the filing party. A special procedure may be used to request the court to issue temporary measures regarding child care, child domicile or child maintenance. In Spain, this type of proceeding is only available for child maintenance.
In case of divorce, Private International Law may be an issue. What are the applicable law and competent court? The usual place of residence of the children determines, for instance, the court with jurisdiction regarding child matters. If one of the parties is willing to come back to the Netherlands, but the usual place of residence of the children is Spain, such party cannot travel abroad without asking for permission. Otherwise, he or she might be committing international child abduction.
With respect to property, the Dutch law enforces the community property, except if a pre nuptial agreement has been signed. The same applies to Spanish law. However, the Catalan law automatically applies the separation of marital property.
Adoption is also covered by Individual Rights and Family Law. Some problems may frequently arise from Private International Law. Let's take as an example the birth of a child from a Dutch mother and a Spanish father. In cases like this one, the best way is to resort to a lawyer to better defend his or her interests, both in court or out of court.
