Divorce procedures Bulgaria

For many people the concept of “divorce” is associated with stress and material loss, and so many people prefer not to take action on their personal lives, hoping that over time they will all sort and do not apply for divorce.  As we interact with many of our international clients and potential clients, we realize that most people do not understand the divorce laws in Bulgaria.

They are confused about the Bulgaria divorce process in general.  But, this is totally understandable.

The law is complicated and most people are not lawyers, so they do not need to know this information.  But if you are here reading this article, you are interested.  So I am going to try to explain some of the Bulgaria divorce laws in the simplest terms possible without all the arcane legalese.

Lots of law firms have articles about different aspects of the Bulgaria divorce laws.  They tend to be short articles about a particular subtopic, or they are covert advertisements about how great a particular law firm is, rather than an overview of the Bulgaria divorce process.

What’s the Process?

There may be some variations in the process depending on the facts of your case (like, whether you have children and where you live), but most divorces with agreement look something like this:

Divorce in Bulgaria is subject to the Family law in Bulgaria, governed by the Bulgarian Family code that settles relations based on marriage, kinship adoption, as well as well as guardianship and tutelage.  In Bulgaria, divorce procedures could be done in two ways:

• Divorce by mutual agreement or
• Divorce through breakdown of marriage, when both spouses are Bulgarian citizens. As such, the Bulgarian legislation is applicable.

As relationships get worse, spouses acquire children, different property is acquired, but in fact the family does not exist in the meaning of this concept of morality and law.

Suddenly he / she / decides that they want more than life and divorce, which is often absolutely unexpected for the other partner who should take action to get out of this unpleasant situation with minimal mental and material loss.

Divorce due to marriage disorder is a procedure that aims to end marriage due to a “deep and irreparable” disorder (Article 49 Family code). The claim is constitutive, is brought to the district court on the defendant’s permanent address.

The court is seized with the filing of a claim by one of the spouses meeting the requirements of the CPC and containing the requisite requisites – addressee, country data, relevant annexes, etc. and the request to the court to settle a divorce due to a deep and irreparable marriage disorder.

The personal appearance of the parties is mandatory at the first hearing. A consequence of the plaintiff’s unreasonable failure to appear is termination of the case.

The legal procedure of divorce by claim order 

The legal regulation of the procedure has been describen in art. 49-52 Family code.,

A divorce by mutual consent is preferred when both parties agree on the reasons for divorce and the court allows for the procedure to take place without investigating the cause for the dissolution of the marriage.

This is the simplest type of divorce in Bulgaria and the costs involved in the procedure are much lower than in other cases.

Spouses must come to an agreement regarding the custody of the children, visiting rights, the division of the property acquired during the marriage, the use of the family name etc.

The evidence of the deep and irreparable disorder of divorce, which is the basis for divorce cases, must be proven in a competitive process .

The Court should establish the reasons for the occurrence of a temporary and disruptive disorder, but its profound and irreparable disorder – these may be objective circumstances, and or marital malfeasance of one or both of the spouses.

Divorce proceedings in Bulgaria due to marriage disruption should be initiated by only one spouse . If there is mutual consent for the divorce, proceed according to Art. 50 of Family Code – divorce by mutual consent.

Account should be taken of the restrictive legal norm of Art. 320 of the Code of Civil Procedure, according to which the divorce proceedings are suspended if the wife is pregnant (until the child’s 12 months of age) if she so requests.

Matrimonial claims must also be respected. procedural consumption (exhaustiveness of the marriage process), according to art. 322 of the Civil Procedure Code and according to the mandatory for the courts Interpretative Decision No. 1 / 4.01.2001. of the SCCS of the SCC:

Art. 322. (1) In a claim for divorce, the plaintiff must provide all grounds for the profound and irreparable marriage disorder. Any reasons not mentioned, which occurred and became known to the spouse until the oral hearing is completed, can not serve as a basis for bringing a new claim for divorce.

As stated above, as the basis for the divorce claim is the deep and irreparable disorder of marriage judged by concrete facts proving it, each of these facts is in itself a ground of claim. If a plea is not mentioned in the case, it is overturned and can not serve as a new claim on the basis of that fact. Therefore, all the facts of family life justifying the occurrence of a profound and irreparable marriage disorder should be indicated by the end of the oral hearings.

All matrimonial claims may be joined together. the following claims must be lodged and considered:

• For exercising parental rights;
• On personal relationships and child support;
• Using the family home;
• Maintenance between spouses and surname.

At the request of one of the parties, the court may prescribe temporary measures on the care and maintenance of minor children from marriage (if any), the use of family housing and other property acquired during marriage, etc. questions. The provisional measures shall have effect until the final decision is taken.

When selecting a divorce lawsuit – DIVORCE by mutual consent or DIVORCE by legal claim, apart from always the individual and personal specificities of the particular case, the due fees for the proceedings should be known and taken into account:

State fee are payable upon filing of the application. It is paid to the account of the relevant District Court.

Final state fee should be paid  on the account of the respective District Court in case of divorce. 2 per cent on maintenance payments for 3 years maintenance fees for the child on bank account of the District Court.

Other costs may arise in the proceedings, such as expert opinions on one or other matter, the value of which is different and depending on the complexity of the expert’s task.

The burden of all costs in the case – state fees, lawyers’ fees, expert opinions are assigned to the guilty or ill-conscious spouse when there is a ruling on the guilt (according to the norm of Article 49, paragraph 3 of the Family Code, the ruling on wine matters is no longer official, but only if one of the spouses has requested such a ruling) or remains at the expense of each of the parties – as they have done in the course of the proceedings.

In this comment, the issues of divorce proceedings are examined in principle.

Always consider and choose the procedure best suited to the specific case.

Our family law office provides legal consultations and representation during the contested divorce – a procedure that is quite emotional for the parties.

The information provided below will help you find more about this procedure.

If you need our assistance please call us on + 359 897 90 43 91 or send us a mail office@lawyer-bulgaria.bg