Our law firm specialises in family law

In Cyprus, the majority of the cases that are related to family matters, such as divorce, property relations, marital relations, custody and maintenance of a child are resolved by Family Courts. Under certain circumstances the family matters are resolved by the President of the District Court or the Family Courts of the Religious Groups.

A decision issued by a Court of another country can be enforced in Cyprus provided that Cyprus has an agreement with that particular country for mutual recognition and enforcement of judicial decisions with the country issuing the decision. If the country issuing the decisions is an EU Member State, then the enforcement will be effected by using the EU Regulations.

The dissolution of civil marriage in Cyprus is granted in Cyprus Family Courts once the applicant files an application at the Family Court. In case of religious marriage, the spouse applying for the divorce must first notify in writing, according to Article 3(1) of L. 22/90, the Bishop of the area where the applicant lives stating the grounds for the divorce.

There is a list of different pieces of legislation, which include provisions regarding the divorce procedure, either for the dissolution of religious or civil marriages. The most recent piece of legislation is the Civil Marriage Law (N.104(I)/2003) which was put in force in Cyprus in 2003, in which there are a number of provisions regulating the divorce procedure.

The legal consequence of the divorce decision is only that the marriage is dissolved. This decision does not affect any property disputes that may arise, any custody proceedings (with the exception of divorces granted due to the physical abuse of children) and neither does it entail an obligation to pay maintenance to the other spouse. All these are independent procedures, which can be brought before the Courts only by way of filing separate applications.

For more information concerning the divorce procedure in Cyprus or other matters arising from the dissolution of a marriage, do not hesitate to contact us