Divorce in Serbia when one of you lives abroad

Can a Serbian court hear the case?

The general rule is that a Serbian court has jurisdiction when the defendant lives in Serbia. For divorce, the law adds three situations in which the defendant may live anywhere. That covers most families split between Serbia and another country.

• both spouses are Serbian citizens, wherever they live
• the spouse who files is a Serbian citizen living in Serbia
• the spouses last lived together in Serbia, and the spouse who files lives or stays in Serbia when filing

Which law the court applies

Divorce is governed by the law of the country whose citizens both spouses are at the time of filing. For two Serbian citizens that is Serbian law, even if they live in Vienna or Milan.

If the spouses are citizens of different countries, the laws of both countries apply together. If the divorce cannot be granted that way, Serbian law applies when either spouse lived in Serbia at the time of filing, and there is a further fallback for a Serbian citizen who lives abroad.

By agreement or by lawsuit

If you agree, you file a joint proposal for divorce by agreement. It must include a written agreement on parental responsibility for minor children and a written agreement on dividing joint property. If you do not agree, either spouse can sue on the ground that the marriage is seriously and permanently broken down.

In a contested divorce the court normally starts with mediation, in which the spouses appear in person. Mediation is not held when one or both spouses live abroad. For couples split across borders, that usually takes one in-person step out of the procedure.

Children

Parents who no longer live together can share parental responsibility only if they agree, and only if the court finds that the agreement is in the child's best interest. Otherwise the court decides who the child lives with, maintenance and contact with the other parent. Before deciding, it must obtain the findings and opinion of the guardianship authority, the local social work centre.

Even the parent who does not have day-to-day care keeps a say in decisions that significantly affect the child, and the law names a change of the child's residence among them. A move abroad with a child is therefore not one parent's decision alone.

Serbia is a party to the 1980 Hague Convention on child abduction, as are Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the United States. The United Arab Emirates is not.

Taking part from abroad

You can be represented by a lawyer throughout. For divorce, the power of attorney must be certified and issued only for that marital dispute. A consulate or a foreign notary can certify it.

A party who lives abroad and has no representative in Serbia is asked by the court to appoint someone in Serbia to receive court papers, within 30 days. If you do not, the court appoints a temporary agent at your expense. It is simpler to have your lawyer named from the start.

Where children are involved, the proceedings are urgent by law. Serving papers abroad still adds time, so expect a divorce with a spouse abroad to take longer than one between two people in Belgrade.

Which court, and what to prepare

Divorce cases are heard by a basic court (osnovni sud). Which one depends on where the defendant lives or where you last lived together; if the defendant lives abroad, the court where the spouse who files lives in Serbia, or the court of your last common home in Serbia, can take the case. Belgrade has several basic courts, each covering certain municipalities, so the address matters.

Usually you need an extract from the marriage register, birth certificates of the children and proof of where each of you lives. Documents issued abroad normally need an apostille and a translation by a court interpreter in Serbia. If you are filing by agreement, the two written agreements, on the children and on property, are the core of the file, and the court enters them in the judgment. It is worth getting their wording right before anyone signs.

If you were divorced abroad

A divorce granted by a foreign court has legal effect in Serbia only once a Serbian court recognises it. You file the foreign judgment with a confirmation that it is final. After recognition, the divorce is entered in the Serbian civil registers. Until then, Serbian records still show you as married, which matters when you remarry, inherit or sell property here.

Frequently asked questions