Divorce in England is a significantly leaner and faster procedure than the Italian or other countries where it is necessary to first start a legal separation (not simply physical), to get to divorce only later.
In order to obtain a divorce in England the spouses must be in agreement (divorce by mutual consent) and it is not necessary for them to physically go to England, or to appear before the English Court. A delegation to a local lawyer is sufficient to represent the spouses and register for them a domicile in England. Therefore it is not necessary to start a preventive separation or divorce practice in their country of origin, they pass directly from marriage to divorce. The minimum time required to obtain a divorce in England is about 6-7 months from the start of the procedure.
Before proceeding with the application for divorce, the spouses must agree on every aspect concerning children, food and property.
The Petition is the legal act which must be completed and submitted by the lawyer to the court. The apostillate certificates that will be requested will be attached. If there are no minor children, the applicant’s signature will suffice, otherwise that of the two spouses is required.
After a few weeks, the applicant will receive a document from the court, the certificate of entitlement, which certifies the existence of the requirements for divorce. After about a month and a half after obtaining this certification, the petition is presented to request the definitive sentence which, once issued, becomes final. The “Decree absolute” or divorce sentence is issued after a few weeks.
The latter can be transcribed in Italy, without having to have it recognized by any court.
Once the sentence has been issued, the lawyer will proceed to apostille and have it translated into Italian. At this point it is enough to go to the Municipality and register the divorce.
All these activities can be carried out by the ILC & Associates Law Firm itself, thanks to its British and Italian offices.
As we know, Italian communities are very large in many foreign countries, and especially in England. Italians are born or moved to the UK and more and more are the requests we receive to follow transactional divorces.
ILC & Associates guarantees a 360 ° service in this field, relieving the client from any task and procedure related to divorce, avoiding the inconvenience of going personally and frequently to one of the two countries to manage such practices.
Contact us now on + 44 (0) 20 7038 8599 (if you are in the UK), on +44 (0) 7517460844 to speak directly in Italian, or at +39 091 6162771 (if you are in Italy) for a consultation free telephone or send us an e-mail immediately to ilc@ilclawyers.com to which we will reply as soon as possible.
4 Comments. Leave new
My wife and I have been separated for over two years. Since 2016 I live 6 months of each year in my personal house in Italy. For the last two years I have spent 4 months in South Africa with short returns to UK for medical consultations. During these visits to England which aggregate to less than two months I separately live in a part of the marital home. Aged 70 and with two incurable and terminal diseases I am seeking a divorce – which my wife of nearly 50 years who is domiciled and ordinarily resident in the marital home in UK may oppose – although before my diagnosis she had petitioned for a divorce in UK for irretrievable breakdown. This was withdrawn on diagnosis. There are no dependants
My question is can I divorce in Italy and if so are the hurdles more or less than in UK and are results in the Italian judiciary preferable than those in UK for the petitioner.
My wife and I have been separated for over two years. Since 2016 I live 6 months of each year in my personal house in Italy. For the last two years I have spent 4 months in South Africa with short returns to UK for medical consultations. During these visits to England which aggregate to less than two months I separately live in a part of the marital home. Aged 70 and with two incurable and terminal diseases I am seeking a divorce – which my wife of nearly 50 years who is domiciled and ordinarily resident in the marital home in UK may oppose – although before my diagnosis she had petitioned for a divorce in UK for irretrievable breakdown. This was withdrawn on diagnosis. There are no dependants
My question is can I divorce in Italy and if so are the hurdles more or less than in UK and are results in the Italian judiciary preferable than those in UK for the petitioner.
Good morning
My husband and I were married in the UK 3 and a half years ago but moved to Italy directly after the wedding as my husband is an italian national. We live in his home. He has a business which he runs. I do not have any paid work. I recently found information on his phone proving that he has been having some kind of relationship with his his secretary although we had issues before this, mainly the fact that I appear not to be able to have children. Our relationship has broken down considerably more since I found out about the betrayal. I am aware that he has been enquiring bout divorce although he has not spoken to me about this. In fact he speaks to me about nothing.. another source of our problems.
I am enquiring if it is possible to divorce via the UK system rather than the Italian (seeing as we were married in the UK) and if so, what this entails? I, stupidly, married for love and came to Italy with nothing and have been totally reliant on my husband. I have had no paid work since i arrived. I still love my husband and don’t want a divorce but I feel he thinks differently and I know he has asked a lawyer here about how to divorce both here and in the UK, although he is not aware i know this. I am enquiring so as to be ready if he decides to throw everything in. I have evidence (in Italian) in the form of photographs of text messages of the fact that something has been going on behind my back.
Please advise me what I need to do and if I am entitled to anything as if he divorces me, I will return to the UK penniless, jobless, carless etc…
Many thanks
Good evening,
I have divorced here in the Uk, but I need to register my divorce in Rome. Do you know what do I have to do?
The Italian consulate is not very clear.
Thank you so much
Alessia