Divorce by notarial procedure in Romania

One of the ways of dissolving a marriage in Romania is through a notary.

Firstly, to apply to the notary public, both spouses must have full capacity to act and give their free and unvitiated consent to the procedure.
Then, in order for the divorce to be declared, the spouses must agree on the surname they will bear after the dissolution of the marriage, and they must not have any minor children together.

If they have underage children together, the parents need to agree on a few things, taking into account the interests of the children, namely:

• joint exercise of parental authority;
• establishing the children’s residence after divorce;
• how personal links are maintained between the separated parent and each of the children;
• determining the parents’ contribution to the costs of raising, educating, teaching and training their children.

Jurisdiction lies with the notary of the place where the marriage was concluded, or the place where the spouses last lived together, the choice being left to the spouses.
The application for divorce can be filed in person or by proxy, with power of attorney.

After the application is registered, a cooling-off period of 30 calendar days is granted, during which time the spouses can change their minds.
When the time limit expires, the spouses appear again before the notary, at which time their insistence to divorce is verified, as well as their free and unconditional consent. If these conditions are met, a divorce certificate is issued, at which point the marriage is dissolved.

However, the divorce application can also be rejected.

This happens if one of the spouses is placed under a restraining order, if they cannot express their consent, or if the spouses get back together.

The application shall also be rejected if there is no agreement on the name to be given to each spouse after the dissolution of the marriage or if they have not agreed on the exercise of parental authority by both parents if there are minor children in common.

However, if the joint exercise of parental authority or the residence of the minors is not in the children’s best interests, the application is rejected.
In the event of a refusal to declare a divorce, the spouses can apply directly to the court.

If the rejection is abusive, either spouse can court for compensation.

Blaj Law is a team of english speaking lawyers in Romania. Contact us to help you trough the procedure of divorce.