Council Regulation (EC) No 1347/2000 establishes the principle that decisions taken in one Member State of the European Union are recognised in the other Member States without any procedure being required. Any person wishing to have a judgment on divorce, legal separation or marriage annulment recognised in Greece should apply either to the court of first instance having his habitual residence in the person against whom the judgment is to be enforced or to the place of enforcement. The application shall be accompanied by: The substantive law applicable to the property regimes of the spouses, divorce and legal separation is as follows: 10. Are there other extrajudicial ways to resolve divorce issues without going to court? 3. What are the consequences of divorce in terms of: In the case of a contested divorce, the grounds for divorce (Article 1439 of the Civil Code) are as follows: 4) in all other cases where the award of maintenance at the time of divorce is necessary for reasons of equity. Since there is no bilateral divorce agreement between Greece and the United States, the Greek divorce decree must meet the procedural requirements of the respective state in the United States to be recognized by that state. 14. What do I need to do to have a court decision on divorce/legal separation/marriage annulment recognised in Greece? 1. What are the requirements for divorce? The court decides on the application free of charge after summoning the defendant. The presence of lawyers is not required. If the court considers it likely that the above-mentioned conditions are met, it shall grant legal aid. This must be done separately for each claim. It applies to this dispute by all courts of appeal and also covers the enforcement of the final judgment.
A party whose right to legal aid has thus been recognised is provisionally exempted from the obligation to pay court fees and procedural costs in general, namely notary and bailiff fees, witness costs and fees for experts, lawyers and other representatives, as well as from the obligation to guarantee those costs. A provisional exemption may also be granted only for part of the expenses. If the marriage is dissolved by divorce, the former spouse who is unable to support himself or herself from his or her own income or property is entitled to maintenance: (3) if the applicant spouse cannot find adequate regular employment or needs vocational training; in both cases, the duty may not exceed three years from the date of elimination; or maintenance may be denied or limited for important reasons, in particular if the marriage lasted only a short time or if the spouse who may be entitled to maintenance is responsible for the divorce or has voluntarily caused his or her own poverty. The maintenance claim expires if the maintenance creditor remarries, lives together or dies. 13. Is it possible to appeal against a divorce/legal separation/marriage annulment decision? According to Articles 1438 to 1441 of the Greek Civil Code, divorce is granted only on the basis of a court decision. According to the provisions of the new Family Code (Law 1329/1983), divorce is based on three grounds. (a) In the event of divorce by mutual consent, the spouses agree to dissolve the marriage between them and to submit a joint application to the court of first instance with a single judge of the locality. There are no legal disputes, the procedure is the procedure used in non-contentious cases.
The couple must have been married for a year or more. The single court of first instance (Article 17(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure (Κώδικας Πολιτικής Δικονομίας)) has jurisdiction to dissolve marriages by divorce on the grounds of breakdown by one or both spouses or the absence of one of their spouses; annulment of a void or voidable marriage; declare that there is no marriage; and to decide, during the marriage, on the relations between the spouses of the marriage. The judicial procedure is that provided for matrimonial disputes, as amended by Law 4055/2012. Substantive law applies to divorce in order of priority: In addition to divorce by mutual consent, the grounds for divorce are as follows. (b) If one of the spouses is declared missing or presumed dead, the other spouse may apply for divorce. In principle, the effects of the marriage are revoked retroactively. This applies to all personal, family and property relations between the spouses. Thus, the nullity of the marriage deprives the spouses of the right to inherit property from the outset. It also annuls all legal acts between spouses and third parties concluded in their capacity as married couples, either because of the necessities of their cohabitation as husband and wife, or for the purpose of managing the property of the other spouses, but subject to the good faith of third parties relating to the couple. The rules relating to movable property acquired by one of the spouses during the marriage also apply in the event of nullity. If either spouse or one of them was unaware of nullity at the time of marriage, nullity has effect only for the future; a spouse who was unaware of the nullity at the time of marriage is entitled to maintenance from the other spouse if the latter was aware of it from the beginning and from the successors of the other spouses if the other spouse dies after the annulment of the marriage, subject to the same rules as divorce; which apply accordingly.