Dutch Civil Code

Book 1 Law of Persons and Family Law

Title 1.9 Dissolution of a marriage

Section 1.9.1 General provisions for the dissolution of a marriage

Article 1:149 End of a marriage
A marriage ends:
a. when of one of the spouses dies;
b. if a missing person, who in accordance with the provisions of Section 2 or 3 of Title 18 of Book 1 of the Civil Code has been declared death or presumably death, appears to be still alive on the day on which the surviving spouse or registered partnership has entered into another marriage or registered partnership: when that marriage has been contracted or that registered partnership has been registered;
c. by divorce in accordance with the provisions of Section 2 of the present Title;
d. by dissolution of the marriage after a legal separation which has been decreed in accordance with the provisions of Section 2 of Title 10 of Book 1 of the Civil Code.

Section 1.9.2 Divorce

Article 1:150 Application for a divorce
A divorce between spouses who are not legally separated shall be decreed at the request of one of the spouses or at their joint request.

Article 1:151 Irretrievable breakdown of the marriage
A divorce at the request of one of the spouses shall be decreed if the marriage has been irretrievably broken down.

Article 1:152 [repealed on 01-01-1993]

Article 1:153 Provisional measures in connection with to be expected benefits (pension)
- 1. If the requested divorce would have the result that an existing expectancy of benefits, to be received by the other spouse in the event that the spouse who filed the request for divorce would die firstly, would be lost or seriously diminished, and the other spouse objects against the divorce for this reason, then the request may not be awarded before provisional measures are taken in respect thereof which, in view of the circumstances, are fair to both spouses. The court may set a period for this purpose.
- 2. Paragraph 1 does not apply:
a. if it may reasonably be expected that the other spouse can make sufficient arrangements for that situation himself;
b. if the other spouse is predominantly to blame for the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage.

Article 1:154 Divorce upon a joint application of both spouses
- 1. A divorce at the joint request of both spouses shall be decreed if the application is based on their mutual opinion that their marriage is irretrievably broken down.
- 2. Each of the spouses is entitled to withdraw the application up until the moment of the court's divorce order.

Article 1:155 Equalization of pension entitlements
As far as one of the spouses has built up pension entitlements during the marriage, the other spouse has, in case of a divorce, the right to claim equalization of pension rights in accordance with the provisions of or made pursuant to the Act on the Equalization of Pension Rights at a Separation, unless the spouses have excluded the applicability of that Act in the way provided for by this Act.

Article 1:156 [repealed on 01.01.1993]

Article 1:157 Maintenance allowance for a spouse (alimony)
- 1. In the divorce order or in a later judicial decision the court may, upon the request of the spouse who has insufficient means to provide for his own maintenance and who is reasonably not able to obtain such means, grant a maintenance allowance to this spouse which has to be paid by the other spouse.
- 2. In determining the duration or amount of the maintenance allowance the court may take into account the need for maintenance in the event that the other spouse, who is obliged to pay the allowance, should die.
- 3. Upon the request of one of the spouses, the court may grant the maintenance allowance subject to conditions and for a fixed period of time. This, however, may not have the result that the maintenance allowance shall exceed a period of more than twelve years, which period starts to run on the day on which the divorce decree has been registered in the Registers of Civil Status.
- 4. If the court has not set a fixed period of time, then the obligation to pay a maintenance allowance shall end by operation of law on the expiry of twelve years, which period starts to run on the day on which the divorce decree has been registered in the Registers of Civil Status.
- 5. If the ending of the maintenance allowance on the expiry of the period meant in paragraph 4 has such far-reaching implications for the person entitled to it that to standards of reasonableness and fairness it cannot be expected of him to accept its ending, then the court may, upon his request, still set a fixed period. A request for this purpose must be filed before three months since the end of the period meant in paragraph 4 have passed. When giving the court order the court shall determine also whether or not the fixed period, after it has expired, can be extended.
- 6. Where the marriage has lasted no longer than five years and no children are born from it, the maintenance obligation ends by operation of law on the expiry of a period equal to the duration of the marriage, which period starts to run from the day on which the divorce decree has been registered in the Registers of Civil Status. If the court has fixed a period for the maintenance obligation, then this cannot result in the ending of the maintenance obligation at a later moment than the one which would have been applicable pursuant to the previous sentence. Paragraph 5 applies accordingly on the understanding that in the first sentence the words 'the period meant in paragraph 4' have to be read as: 'the period meant in the first sentence'.

Article 1:158 Agreement between the spouses on the provision of maintenance (alimony) after the divorce
The spouses may, either before the divorce decree is given or afterwards, enter into an agreement with each other in which is regulated whether, and if so, to what amount one of them shall be obliged towards the other to pay a maintenance allowance after the divorce. If no period has been incorporated in this agreement, then Article 1:157 paragraph 4, 5 and 6 shall apply accordingly.

Article 1:159 Contractual stipulation that the divorce agreement cannot be changed
- 1. It is possible to stipulate in the divorce agreement meant in Article 1:158 that the contractual arrangement on the maintenance obligation cannot be changed by the court on account of any change of circumstances. Such a stipulation must be made in writing.
- 2. A contractual stipulation as referred to in paragraph 1 loses its effect if no request for a divorce has been filed within three months after the divorce agreement was entered into. The previous sentence applies accordingly to a common request for a divorce.
- 3. In spite of a contractual stipulation as referred to in paragraph 1, the District Court may, upon the request of one of the parties, change the divorce agreement, either in the divorce decree or afterwards, on the basis of such a serious change of circumstances that the applicant to standards of reasonableness and fairness can no longer be expected to be bound by that stipulation.

Article 1:159a Taking recourse against a (former) spouse on the basis of the Work and Aid Act
An agreement as meant in Article 1:158 and 1:159 does not stand in the way of taking recourse against one of the spouses on the basis of paragraph 6.5 of the Work and Aid Act and does not affect the amount which may be recovered from that spouse.

Article 1:160 End of the obligation to pay maintenance (alimony)
The obligation of a former spouse to pay a maintenance allowance to the other former spouse on account of a divorce, ends when the last mentioned spouse again enters into a marriage or registered partnership or starts to live with another person as if he and this other person were married.

Article 1:161 [repealed on 02.11.1995]

Article 1:161a [repealed on 02.11.1995]

Article 1:162 [repealed on 02.11.1995]

Article 1:162a [repealed on 02.11.1995]

Article 1:163 Registration of the divorce decree
- 1. A divorce takes effect on the day on which the divorce decree is registered in the Registers of Civil Status.
- 2. This registration is made at the request of parties or of one of them.
- 3. If the request for registration is not made within six months after the day on which the divorce decree has become final and binding, then this decree has lost its effect.

Article 1:164 Redress for damages inflicted to the marital community of property
- 1. If a community of property, existing between the spouses, has been damaged by one of the spouses because, after the request for a divorce was filed or in the period of six months prior to that moment, this spouse has rashfully incurred debts or wasted community assets or has performed juridical acts as meant in Article 1:88 without the required approval or decision of the District Court, then this spouse is obliged to compensate the caused damage to the community of property after the divorce decree has been registered in the Registers of Civil Status.
- 2. A legal claim (right of action) based on the previous paragraph can no longer be filed when three years have passed since the registration of the divorce decree.

Article 1:165 Use of the house of the other spouse
- 1. A spouse living in a house which belongs exclusively or jointly to the other spouse or which may be used by this other spouse by virtue of a right of use, may request the court to grant him a right, enforceable against this other spouse, to keep living in that house and to keep making use of the things in it and of its household effects for a period of six months after the divorce decree has been registered in the Registers of Civil Status in exchange for a reasonable compensation. The court may award such a request either in the divorce decree or in a later court order, provided that the spouse who made the request is living in the house at the moment of registration of the divorce decree.
- 2. Juridical acts performed by the other spouse in the six-months period meant in the previous paragraph without the approval of the spouse to whom the court has granted the right to keep living in the house as referred to in the preceding paragraph, cannot be invoked against this last spouse to his disadvantage.
- 3. If the spouse to whom the court has granted the right to keep living in the house refuses to give his approval to a juridical act or if he is incapable to state his will thereto, then the District Court which ruled in first instance on the divorce application may order, upon the request of the other former spouse, that the previous paragraph remains inapplicable.

Article 1:166 Earlier divorced persons remarry with each other
If former spouses, who were earlier married to each other, remarry with each other or enter into a registered partnership with each other, then all legal effects of their former marriage are reactivated by operation of law as if the former spouses had never been divorced. However, the validity of juridical acts performed in the period between the dissolution of the marriage and the remarriage or the registration of the registered partnership, shall be assessed to the time on which these juridical acts were performed.

Article 1:167 [repealed on 05.07.1982]