What documents will you need for the divorce?

Chapters of the article

• What documents do you need to file with the court to dissolve a marriage?
• Petition for modification of the relations of minor children
• Petition for dissolution of marriage
• Application for division of the matrimonial property

What documents do you need to file with the court to dissolve a marriage?

1. Petition for Modification of Relationship of Minor Children
2. Petition for dissolution of marriage

If you are applying for a divorce without establishing the causes of the breakdown of the marriage (also an uncontested divorce), you will also need an agreement on the division of the matrimonial property, housing and maintenance.

Petition for adjustment of minor children

If you and your spouse have minor children, the court will not dissolve the marriage until it has decided on the custody and support of the minor child after the divorce. Thus, the adjustment of the relationship to the minor children is the first thing you will need to resolve. The most effective and best way to do this is through a parenting agreement.

If the child is mature enough, be sure to ask his or her opinion and what he or she wants. If you respect his wishes, the child will know that you still care about him and will appreciate that as parents you were able to come to an agreement. By making an agreement, you will make it easier for your children and yourself to get a start in life. You will also save yourself years of litigation, stress, expert witness payments, etc. The court always assesses whether the agreement is in the best interests of the children. If it is, in most cases the court will approve the agreement and the whole process is greatly accelerated – in one court session, if both parties are present, the matter is resolved.

The fundamental issues you should agree on will be:

• which parent will have custody of the child,
• how often and for how long the other parent will see the child,
• how much child maintenance will be paid.

If you are able to agree on the other parent’s contact with the child, you do not have to regulate directly in the judgment how often and for how long the other parent will have contact with the child.

All decisions of the court are always guided by the best interests of the child. If your agreed terms do not reflect this, the court may decide differently from your agreement/proposal. Court proceedings are started by filing a petition with the court. If you reach an agreement, you will file a “Motion for Approval of Parental Agreement to Modify the Relationship, Education and Support of Minor Children” with the court. In order to get a divorce, you always need to adjust the relationship to the minor children during the divorce. In practice, we adjust the relations with minor children even before the dissolution of the marriage.

In case of disagreement, one of the parents files a “Petition for Modification of Custody and Support of Minor Children”. You can find a sample petition directly on the website of the Ministry of Justice. However, it must be added that this is a general template and in case you forget something or do not provide all the essential information and documents, the whole process will be prolonged. That is why it is always better to have the proposal checked by a divorce lawyer.

Important information on the proposal to adjust the child ratio:

• File the document required for divorce with the municipal court in whose district the child resides. If you are not sure about the jurisdiction of the court (i.e. where to file the petition), it is advisable to check with the OSPOD or take the advice of a divorce lawyer.
• A handwritten signature on the document is sufficient. It does not have to be certified.
• Deliver everything to the court in triplicate.
• In practice, you can file a petition for divorce and a petition for adjustment of the child’s circumstances at the same time. However, the court must always decide on the minor children first.
• The petition for adjustment of the minor children’s relations is exempt from court fees.

Counsel advises: If you are unable to reach any agreement and there is a need to provisionally adjust the relations of the minor children, you can file a motion for an interim measure. This is more of an emergency measure (although parents sometimes overuse it, thereby complicating and prolonging the possibility of a final decision in the case). An interim measure can be filed, for example, if the other parent is not contributing to the maintenance of the minor child and the protracted nature of the court proceedings could put you in financial difficulties, or if there is a need to make temporary arrangements for the care of the minor child. Interim measures have certain specifics; the court must decide on the minor children’s case within a maximum of 7 days. Therefore, as a rule, no hearings are held as there is a short time limit for a decision. Everything that is necessary must be explained and documented to the court. The basis for a successful interim measure is an assessment of whether the conditions for an interim measure are met and a well-drafted interim measure. This is always best advised by an experienced divorce attorney.

Application for divorce

One spouse may file the petition alone or, if both spouses agree, they may file a joint petition.

In the case of an agreed and thus uncontested divorce (divorce without finding the causes of the breakdown), several statutory conditions must be met:

• the marriage has lasted at least one year on the date the proceedings were initiated,
• the spouses have not lived together for more than 6 months,
• if they have a minor child together, they have agreed to adjust their relationship after the divorce and the court has approved their agreement,
• the same agreement has been reached as regards the division of property.

If one of the spouses does not agree to the divorce or if the spouses are unable to agree on the care of the minor child or the division of the community property, one of the spouses files for divorce. In this case, it will be a contested divorce (divorce with investigation of the causes of the breakdown).

To make it easier for you, we have drawn up a model divorce petition. Even though divorce lawyers have worked on it, it is a general template that does not reflect your specific example. Therefore, if you want to make sure that everything is in order and that an unnecessary mistake does not prolong or complicate the whole process and any further settlement, it is advisable to consult the template with a lawyer or at least have it checked.

Include with the divorce petition a copy of the marriage certificate or birth certificate of the minor child in common, and attach or document the filing of a final judgment for post-divorce custody and a petition for property, housing and support.

Important information about the divorce petition:

• File the petition with the district court (in Prague, the circuit court) in whose district you are or were last domiciled together, if at least one of you still resides in that district. If you have both moved out of it, send the petition to the court in whose district your spouse currently resides.
• You will pay a court fee of CZK 2,000 for filing the petition.
• You can pay the court fee either to the court or by using stamps, which you can buy at all branches of the Czech Post.

Application for the division of the matrimonial property

Thecommunity of property ceases on dissolution of the marriage and must be settled. The most advantageous solution to the property settlement is an agreement. It is effective on the date on which the community of property ceases to exist. It does not matter whether you conclude it before or after the dissolution of the marriage (for an uncontested divorce you must have concluded it).

If you do not reach an agreement, there are 3 options:

1. You can conclude the agreement later.
2. If you do not reach an agreement, you can file a petition with the court within 3 years of the divorce to divide the community property. In this case, the court will decide who gets the specific assets and debts incurred during the marriage. It will assign the community property to one of the ex-spouses with the understanding that the other will be paid out, the property will be divided, or it will decide to sell it and divide the money.
3. If within 3 years of the divorce you do not agree on the division of the SJM and do not even file a petition with the court, then the so-called irrebuttable legal presumption kicks in and the division is automatic. The movable and immovable property remains in the ownership of the ex-spouse who uses it exclusively as owner for his/her own use, that of his/her family or that of the family household. Other tangible movable/immovable property, including debts with claims, will remain in the joint ownership.

For more information, see the article on the division of community property.

Important information on the proposal for the division of the community property:

• File the petition with the court that ordered the divorce.
• Give everything to the court in duplicate.
• The fees for the division of movable and immovable property are in the thousands and the settlement of joint companies exceeds tens of thousands. Their amounts change quite frequently. But it is a relatively costly affair that takes a long time.

Consider that even the least complicated uncontested divorce (without having to settle custody of a minor child or property) takes several months. In cases where the divorcing spouses can agree on almost nothing, the whole process can take several years.

So if you want to keep the process to a minimum and get the maximum result, we can help. At Affordable Lawyer, we have experienced lawyers on our team who can quickly sort everything out with you online, but can also support you in court.