Divorce Order in Contested Divorce Cases

What happens if a party to a divorce does not consent to a divorce?

Even if a party to a divorce opposes such a law suit it is still possible to obtain a judgment for a divorce from the relevant Family District Court.

According to the Family Law (Marriage and Divorce) No. 1/1998, a lawsuit should be filed in order to obtain divorce. Under clause 24 of this law, the Court may order for a divorce if the following circumstances are present:

1. The marital union has collapsed to such an extent that for any reason it is not expected of them to continue to live and share a common life;
2. If the marriage has lasted at least one year and the spouses apply to the Court together, or if one spouse accepts the divorce case filed by the other for any reason, the marriage union is considered to have totally collapsed;
3. If the parties have lived permanently and for two years apart at the time the divorce proceedings are filed, the marriage union shall be deemed to have totally collapsed. In such a case, the divorce is decided regardless of whose fault it is.

There are two types of divorce cases that can be lodged: Consensual and Contested Divorce.

In consensual divorce cases, both of the spouses are willing to divorce and agree on all legal consequences of divorce. In contested divorce cases, there may be conflicts between the parties on the results of divorce, such as custody of the child, payment of child maintenance, payment of compensation, or how the property will be shared, or one of the spouses may not be willing to divorce.

The spouse who is not willing to get divorced might be doing so for various reasons such as willing to repair  or recover the marriage, or he/she may not agree with the opposing party as to division of property, or guardianship of children or compensation issues.

In a case where one of the spouses does not want to divorce, the spouse asking for the divorce needs to prove the reason of divorce in order for the divorce to take place. The Court decides for the divorce to take place if the union of marriage collapsed to the extent that it cannot be repaired or recovered. Therefore, a party's refusal to divorce does not cause the case to be rejected, but only prolongs the process of divorce.