Marriage: Recognition of foreign divorce decrees

According to the general principles of constitutional and international law, divorce decrees, official divorces and private divorces generally only have direct legal effect in the territory of the state in which they were issued. In order to be effective in the Federal Republic of Germany, these foreign decisions in matrimonial matters generally require formal recognition (§ 107 FamFG).
Formal recognition is only dispensable if

• a home state decision or
• a decision from a member state of the European Union

is available.
The decision of the state administration of justice or the President of the Higher Regional Court in accordance with § 107 FamFG extends exclusively to the dissolution of the marriage bond. Any provisions made in the foreign decision regarding consequential divorce matters are not affected. Consequential divorce matters are, for example, provisions on maintenance, custody and pension equalization. If there is a dispute or a need for further regulation in this respect, the civil courts have jurisdiction.

§ Section 107 FamFG expressly refers to "marriage". Dissolutions of civil partnerships are therefore not covered.
Both recognition and non-recognition determinations are binding on all courts and authorities in Germany (Section 107 (9) FamFG). Upon recognition of the foreign divorce, the marriage is also valid for the German legal sphere retroactively to the date of the foreign dissolution of the marriage bond.

Requirements

The marriage was divorced abroad.

What documents do I need?

• In addition to the completed and signed application, the following original documents must be submitted:
• Translations of all foreign-language documents prepared by a recognized translator in Germany.
• The original documents must be submitted to the Higher Regional Court. The documents will be returned at the end of the proceedings.
  

  The originals of the documents must always be legalized by the competent German diplomatic mission abroad or apostilled by the competent foreign home authority.
  In the case of legalization, the German embassy in the country of divorce confirms that
  

  • the signatures on the document are genuine and
  • the signatory was authorized to issue public documents.

  Several countries have concluded the Hague Convention of 05.10.1961 on the exemption of foreign public documents from legalization in order to simplify over-certification by legalization. Legalization is replaced by the apostille between the contracting states in accordance with Art. 3 Para. 1 of the Convention. It is issued by the competent authority of the state that issued the document. According to Art. 5 Para. 2 of the Convention, the apostille testifies to a rebuttable presumption of the authenticity of the document.
  Special guidelines apply to documents from countries whose documentary systems are considered by the Federal Foreign Office to have such serious deficiencies that legalization is no longer justifiable. As a rule, these documents are checked for authenticity and accuracy of content by the German diplomatic mission abroad by way of administrative assistance. The resulting costs are to be borne by the applicant.