Statement on the petition for divorce

The spouse who did not file the petition for divorce has the right to comment on it. Therefore, the court is obliged to send the petition for divorce to the other spouse along with a request to submit a statement within a time limit determined by the court, usually 10 to 15 days. This is a judicial time limit chosen by the assigned judge.

In the statement on the petition for divorce, it is necessary to state the case file number (spisová značka), which is specified in the request delivered from the court. In particular, it is necessary to state whether the respondent (the other spouse) agrees with the divorce and, if applicable, with the proposal for the custody of minor children as proposed by the petitioner, or what counter-proposal they have.

Please note that even mutual consent to the divorce is not the sole reason for which the court must dissolve the marriage. The court must still examine whether the relations between the spouses are so seriously disrupted and permanently broken that the marriage cannot fulfill its purpose and the restoration of marital cohabitation cannot be expected from the spouses.

After the statement is delivered to the court, the court usually schedules a hearing. It will send the respondent’s (the other spouse’s) statement together with the summons to the hearing, or it may deliver it to the petitioner only at the scheduled hearing itself.

We recommend sending all documents delivered to the court in at least two copies, including attachments. Otherwise, the court may make copies at the parties’ expense. Multiple copies are required because one is intended for the court and the second for the other party. Of course, the court will likely instruct the parties to the proceedings in its request as to how many copies they must deliver to the court.

The parties (the spouses) have the right to inspect the court file. If you wish to access all documents filed in the court file before the court manages to deliver them to you, we recommend contacting the court and scheduling an appointment to inspect the file based on the case file number, which will already be indicated on all documents delivered from the court.