Requirements for a divorce in Germany

You have to differentiate the following cases:

1. Both spouses live in Germany.
2. Only one of the spouses lives in Germany.
3. Neither of them lives in Germany.

1. Both spouses live in Germany:
In this case, a divorce in Germany is possible. The divorce is performed in accordance with German law – regardless of the nationality of the spouses.

If only one of the spouses wants to be divorced, this spouse can make an application for divorce if there is a sufficient reason for the divorce. However, also in this case he has to await the end of the one-year-separation before starting the divorce procedure.

If at least one of the spouses is a foreign national, the spouses may both agree that the divorce takes place by the national law of that spouse. If so, the German court turns to the foreign divorce law.

The agreement of foreign law may have some advantages:
– In contrast to German law, many countries do not postulate a year of separation before starting the divorce process
– If the spouses agree to do the divorce under the rule of foreign law, the so called “Versorgungsausgleich” (pension compensation) is not necessary so that the process is much faster.

2. If only one of the spouses lives in Germany, a divorce in Germany is also possible.

3. Neither spouse lives in Germany:
In this case, a divorce in Germany is only possible if at least one of the spouses has the German nationality.