Hague Divorce Convention

Hague Divorce Convention

Hague Convention on the Recognition of Divorces and Legal Separations
Parties that ratified   Parties that acceded (only valid after acceptance of other countries)
Signed	1 June 1970
Location	The Hague, The Netherlands
Effective	24 August 1975
Condition	Ratification by 3 states[1]
Parties	20[2]
Depositary	Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Netherlands)
Languages	English and French

The Hague Divorce Convention, officially Convention on the Recognition of Divorces and Legal Separations is a convention concluded by the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH). It regulates the recognition of divorces and legal separations provided they have been performed according to the correct legal process in the state where the divorce was obtained. Not all divorces need to be recognized under the convention. Only those divorces obtained in a state where (at the time of the start of the proceedings);^[1]

• the "respondent" (the person against whom proceedings were started) had its residence
• the "petitioner" (the person starting the procedures) had his residence (for at least a year; or: together with his/her spouse)
• corresponds to the nationality of both spouses
• corresponds to the nationality of the petitioner and where he lived, or had lived for 1 year in the past 2 years
• corresponds to the nationality of the petitioner, and where he is present, while the last state of their joint residence does not provide for divorce

As of March 2013, 20 states were parties to the convention. The parties are all in Europe, except Australia, Egypt and Hong Kong. The convention is open to all countries. Countries that signed the convention, became a Party by subsequent ratification. Other countries can accede to the convention. When a country ratifies, it automatically becomes applicable between all countries that are party to the convention, whereas the accession only becomes applicable when the other country accepts that accession. Regarding members of the European Union (except Denmark), the Brussels II regulation (which handles conflict of law regarding divorce and parental responsibility) supersedes the convention. The UK government has stated that in the event of withdrawal from the European Union in March 2019 without a treaty, the UK would continue to use the Hague Divorce Convention to recognise overseas divorces.^[3]

• Treaty text
• Ratifications