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Service of the decision on the recognition of a foreign judgment on divorce now mandatory also to the (former) spouse, who lives abroad

10. 03. 2021

Petra Plevnik

Petra Plevnik

Partner

The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia assessed the legal regulation, which stipulated that service of a decision, recognizing a foreign court decision on divorce originating in a country that is not a member of the European Union, is not obligatory to the other (former) spouse.

Thus, in proceedings in which the recognition of a foreign divorce decree was requested by a (former) spouse who was a citizen of the Republic of Slovenia, the courts served the decision on recognition only to the applicant, if the other (former) spouse lived abroad.

Although the Constitutional Court found that the regulation pursued the permissible aim of accelerating the procedure and economic management of the procedure, it concluded that such measure was not proportionate to the end goal. Namely, the absence of service precludes the possibility of the other foreign spouse to participate in the proceedings.

The Constitutional Court therefore ruled that such a regulation is in contradiction with the right to be heard and the right to a legal remedy that are laid down in Article 22 and 25 of the Constitution of Republic of Slovenia and, therefore, the Constitutional Court annulled the sixth paragraph of Article 109 of the Private International Law and Procedure Act.

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