Divorce in Hungary

3 things to arrange before divorce in Hungary

Most of the people are aware of that divorce is decided by courts. However, wishing divorce does not mean that your first was leads right to the court. There may be questions that have to be settled before handing in a claim to the court.

1. Registration of the marriage

In case of a couple where nobody is Hungarian, this step is not needed. However, if either of the parties is a Hungarian citizen, a marriage certificate issued by Hungarian authorities will be needed for divorce before Hungarian courts.

Hungarian marriage certificate can be received at any registrar in Hungary or even at the consuls of Hungary abroad only if the marriage is registered in Hungary.

If it is not needed to be present at the Hungarian authorities for making a registration, but several documents are required, that are checked strictly:

• original marriage certificate provided with Apostille

*If the certification is issued by one of the following countries, Apostille is not needed:

Albania, Algeria, Austria, Bulgaria, China, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Egypt, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Mongolia, North-Korea, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine, Vietnam

• copy of the passports of both parties (if the person is Hungarian citizen, then ID card with residential card is also accepted)
• copy of the birth certification of both parties
• declaration from both parties about their name before and after the marriage and the family name of the child who may be born in the future during the marriage (in case of divorce this decision loses its validity, so in most cases this is just an administrative question necessary for the procedure)

The registration is done by the government offices, and the marriage certification is sent after the successful registration.

2. Coming to agreement, collecting evidences

If there is any chance to make an agreement about the main questions of divorce, it is advised to make it in writing, in an official form before filing anything to the court. The agreement itself does not mean divorce, it will be finalized by the judge. If there is an agreement between the parties, it makes the procedure much faster.

If there is no hope for making an agreement, then it’s time to collect evidences proving that the marriage is irreversibly broken.

3. Is the child biologically common?

If the parties are living separated for a long time, and the wife has already a new partner and a common child may cause problems during the divorce. Even if it is clear that the biological father is not the husband, the legal father will be him, and he will be entitled to parental rights, not the biological father.

This means that in case of divorce the judge should decide in questions of placement, visitation and maintenance of a child whose father is not the husband. This would cause unfair obligations to the husband not being the real father, and unfairly deprives the real father of his rights.

To prevent such decision, a so called “challenging the presumption of paternity” procedure should be started. This court procedure can change the legal status of the father. And after this question is settled down, there is no need to worry about it in the divorce procedure.