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Divorce in the Netherlands

What is the applicable law in a divorce proceeding between spouses of different nationalities?

What is the jurisdiction of the Dutch Court in case of a divorce?

What do we need to do to legally get divorced?

Who should take care of the children in case of divorce?

In case of divorce, you retain joint custody of the children, as during the marriage.

During the divorce procedure in the case of minor children, you need to make a ouderschapsplan (parenting plan) in which you state the following:

  • How you will share responsibility for the care and upbringing of your children
  • How you should inform and consult each other regarding important decisions such as the choice of school
  • How the expenses related to the children are to be shared, and the amount of maintenance to be paid for the them

You must also include and discuss the children’s wishes.

If you do not wish to share parental responsibility you can petition the court to assign it to one of you. The court decides who will be granted responsibility, and if you have more than one child, the court will assign parental responsibility for each child independently. However, it is not common to assign the parental responsibility to one of you. The basic rule is that both parents have parental responsibility.