Family Solicitors

Brexit is looming whether we like it or not. The interaction between the United Kingdom and the rest of the EU will change in many areas and family law is no exception.





The government has published a paper outlining the areas that will be affected:

1. Divorce


2. Children matters


3. Child Maintenance


4. EU rules on Child Abduction

Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own executives and laws in relation to these areas of law and therefore post Brexit, as now, the rules there may be different. In this blog post we will consider the rules relating to divorce.

At present there are approximately 140,000 international divorces in the EU each year. For example, if there is a husband from the UK and a wife from France the current EU rules will assist in:

• Whether or not a person has the right to issue proceedings in a certain country. It will look at residence and domicile amongst other considerations. This is very important because some countries will have more favourable rules in relation to financial proceedings depending on which spouse holds the larger share of the assets.


• It prevents applications from running simultaneously in different countries. Whoever is first to issue will take priority providing that person has the right to issue there.

Currently, Brussels II sets out the recognition of divorces in other EU states. It sets out the rules for the determination of which court and jurisdiction should be responsible for dealing with the divorce and the recognition of the divorce in other countries. The government has indicated that it will repeal the Brussels IIa.
The 1970 Hague Convention on Recognition of Divorce and Legal Separations in international law will continue to apply. This also deals with the recognition of divorce and legal separations but does not apply to enforcement proceedings. The issue here is that many EU countries have not ratified this agreement such as France, Spain, Germany, Austria and Ireland amongst others.

As a result of the above the recognition of divorces will be governed by national law and not EU law unless the countries involved are part of the Hague Convention on divorce. As above, many are not. Therefore parties may need to seek the advice of the country that they need the divorce to be recognised in. Therefore, if they divorce in the UK this may not be recognised, for example, in Ireland and vice versa.

The government has the ability to negotiate “cluster” agreements with the various member states in the EU separately and therefore we could be faced with a scenario of different countries recognising the jurisdiction of the UK in different ways and different rules applying to different countries. At present, consideration of divorces is looked at under Brussels IIa and The Hague Convention. If a country is not a party to either then the national rules of that country apply. This will now have to be a much more widespread consideration following the UK leaving the EU.

The government has stated the following:

• Divorce before exit day – send the certificate to the country that you require recognition in for registration.


• Divorces still taking place on exit day – the current rules apply (although it is not clear whether other EU countries would accept this)


• Divorces after exit day – the new rules will apply in relation to jurisdiction and the ability of having your divorce recognised in other EU states “may” be effected.

There is still a great deal of uncertainty surrounding this as much will depend on what type of exit we have from the EU and what “deals” are made.



For more information, please contact author and Family and Child Care Solicitor Paul Nuttall by calling 020 7014 7357 or email pauln@duncanlewis.com.

Paul is based in our Shepherd’s Bush office and specialises in all family and childcare matters. He frequently deals with divorces and handles related matters such as their financial separation and/or child arrangements. He represents clients who are struggling to reach an agreement with their ex-partner regarding the amount of time their child should spend with each parent and with whom the child should live.

Paul is supervised by Director in the family and child care department Sophie Fretten. Sophie has extensive experience in both public and private law children matters. She frequently acts for vulnerable parents including those with mental health issues, learning difficulties, young parents as well as interveners and parents in non accidental injury matters.


For expert advice on all family and child care matters contact:

Paul on 020 7014 7357 or email pauln@duncanlewis.com.

Sophie on 020 7014 7366 or email sophief@duncanlewis.com.




Duncan Lewis Family Solicitors

At Duncan Lewis Solicitors, our team of expert family lawyers have extensive experience handling divorce matters and understand the importance of maintaining good familial relations where children are involved.

Our family and childcare teams are specialists in all aspects of family and private/public children law matters from offices across London and throughout the UK. Recognised by The Legal 500 2019, the team is significantly experienced in complex financial matrimonial matters (ancillary relief) relating to the breakdown of a marriage/relationship, with a broad practice representing parents, family members and children through their Guardian in all children public law proceedings.

Since 2013, Duncan Lewis has an established Islamic & Sharia Law team which specialises in Islamic Divorce, Islamic Financial Settlement & Mahr Claims under English Law.

For expert advice, contact one of our team of specialist solicitors on 033 3772 0409.