How to write a divorce petition?

A divorce petition can be filed by one of the spouses, either personally at the court’s filing office or sent by mail to the court in the district where you and your spouse last lived together, provided one of you still lives there. Otherwise, the competent court is the general court of the spouse who did not file the petition. If it is still not possible to determine the court this way, the competent court is the general court of the petitioner.

The petition must be submitted in two copies: one for the court and one that the court will deliver to the other party. If you have minor children, the petition must be submitted in three copies. The third copy is for the guardian ad litem appointed by the Labor, Social Affairs and Family Office to represent the best interests of the child.

The law does not specify a particular form for the divorce petition. There are many templates available, but they may not be accurate since every divorce case is individual and specific. To ensure the petition meets all legal requirements, it is best to have it prepared by a lawyer. The cost for drafting a divorce petition can range from 150 to 300 EUR depending on the complexity of the case. If interested, please contact us. Lawyer fees for divorce can also be found in our related article.

The requirements for a divorce petition according to § 127 para. 1 of Act No. 160/2015 Coll., the Civil Procedure Code, are as follows:

The petition must be accompanied by a copy of the marriage certificate, and if there are minor children, copies of their birth certificates, proof of income, documents on your expenses, and expenses related to the minor children.

More detailed information can be found in our article: Divorce Petition.

Hello,

According to §§ 93 and 94 of Act No. 161/2015 Coll., the Civil Non-Contentious Procedure Code (hereinafter “CMP”), divorce proceedings begin upon the petition of even just one spouse, and both spouses are always parties to the proceedings. Based on this procedural status, your husband has the right to be informed of the entire text of the divorce petition, at the latest together with the summons for the hearing, and before the hearing itself.

This interpretation was also supported by the Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic in its resolution dated August 28, 2014, ref. no. 2 Cdo 209/2014: “The right of parties in proceedings to be delivered procedural statements of other parties should be considered part of the right to a fair trial. Failure to deliver a party’s statement to the opposing party creates inequality before the court, which conflicts with the principle of adversarial proceedings and equality of arms as part of the right to a fair trial.”

The right of the other party to receive the petition also arises from § 167(1) and (2) of Act No. 160/2015 Coll., the Civil Procedure Code (hereinafter “CSP”), which applies subsidiarily to divorce proceedings under the CMP (§ 2 CMP).

According to § 167(1) CSP: “If the court has not dismissed the claim pursuant to § 129 or decided to discontinue proceedings, it shall deliver the claim along with attachments to the defendant in person.” The terms “claim” and “defendant” in the context of the CMP can be understood as “petition to commence proceedings (divorce)” and “party to the proceedings” (§ 2(2) CMP).

What is the price of the court fee stamp? Is the stamp glued directly onto the petition or submitted at the filing office?

The court fee for filing a petition to initiate divorce proceedings is 100 euros (Item 7 letter a) of the Schedule of Court Fees, which forms Annex No. 1 to Act No. 71/1992 Coll. on court fees and fees for extracts from the criminal register, hereinafter referred to as the “Court Fees Act” or “ZSP”). You can pay this fee directly when submitting the petition, which can speed up the process since the court will not have to send a payment request. The stamp serves as proof of payment of the court fee and should be attached to the divorce petition. You may attach the stamp separately to the petition. The important thing is that the court fee is paid and that the court receives proof of payment.

However, the court fee does not have to be paid at the time of submitting the divorce petition. According to § 10 paragraph 1 ZSP: “If the fee due upon filing the petition to initiate proceedings has not been paid, the court will call on the payer to pay the fee within a time limit it sets, usually within 10 days of receiving the call; if despite the call the fee is not paid within the time limit, the court will discontinue the proceedings. The payer must be informed in the call about the consequences of non-payment.”

If you submit the petition electronically, the fee is reduced by half, i.e., to 50 EUR, and the payment request will be sent to your electronic mailbox.

Is it necessary to attach evidence already at the stage of submitting the petition to the court?

Providing all necessary evidence is essential for the success of the petition. Evidence submitted together with the petition strengthens the line of argument you develop in the petition and convinces the court of its correctness. According to § 25 of the Civil Non-Contentious Procedure Act (CMP): “The petition to initiate proceedings must, besides the general requirements of the filing, include the identification of the parties, their representatives if they have any, a truthful and complete description of the decisive facts, identification of evidence to prove these facts, and it must be clear what the petitioner is requesting.”

According to § 26 paragraph 1 CMP: “The petitioner is obliged to attach documentary evidence to the petition on which they rely.” To prove the alleged facts (in the case of divorce, facts showing that the marriage is permanently and irreparably broken down and that reconciliation between the spouses cannot be expected), the parties to the proceedings are obliged to identify evidence (§ 32 paragraph 2 CMP).

In exceptional cases, the court may “also take other evidence than proposed by the parties, if necessary to establish the true state of the case (§ 36 CMP).”

Is it possible to include in the divorce petition that the husband must move out if he does not do so before the first hearing?

The moving out of the spouse can be achieved through the institute of urgent measures. According to § 324 of the Civil Procedure Code (CSP): “Before the initiation of proceedings, during the proceedings, and after its conclusion, the court may order urgent measures upon request.” The court may order urgent measures if, based on the evidence you submit, it assesses that it is necessary to immediately regulate relations between you and your husband. We draw your attention to several reasons for which the court may impose urgent measures that could apply to your situation:

According to § 325 paragraph 2 CSP, urgent measures may require a party in particular:

d) to do something, refrain from doing something, or tolerate something,

e) temporarily not to enter the house or apartment where the person, against whom there is reasonable suspicion of violence, lives,

f) not to enter or only to limitedly enter the house, apartment, workplace, or other place where the person whose physical or mental integrity is threatened by their behavior lives, stays, or regularly visits,

h) not to approach or only to limitedly approach a certain distance to the person whose physical or mental integrity may be threatened by their behavior.

What questions can I expect in court? What should I prepare for, and should I bring evidence if I didn’t submit it with the petition?

If you do not attach evidence to the petition, we recommend bringing it with you to the hearing. According to § 96 CMP, “The court guides the spouses to remove the causes of the breakdown and strives for their reconciliation.” In divorce proceedings, the judge focuses on both emotional and practical reasons for the divorce and will ask about the circumstances that led to the situation.

If there are minor children in the marriage, the court will also address custody issues. Since the law considers the ideal state to be the preservation of the marriage, the court will only grant a divorce in justified cases (§ 22 Act No. 36/2005 Coll., Family Act).

The court will primarily determine whether “the relationship between the spouses is so seriously and permanently broken that the marriage cannot fulfill its purpose and that restoration of marital cohabitation cannot be expected” (§ 23 para. 1 Family Act). The court also “investigates the reasons that led to the serious breakdown of the relationship between the spouses and takes them into account when deciding on the divorce.”

Various services related to divorce that we offer can be found on our website: Divorce of Marriage

More detailed information on what a divorce petition should contain can be found in our article at this link: Divorce in Slovakia: Filing an Application for Divorce