Governing Law in Divorce

The legal system applicable to the legal assessment of divorces is governed by Art. 54 of the Act of February 4, 2011, Private International Law (i.e. Journal of Laws of 2015, item 1792). Pursuant to paragraph 1 of the commented provision, the rule is that dissolution of a marriage, i.e. its termination during the life of both spouses , is subject to the common national law of the spouses upon request for marriage. This regulation is an expression of the principle of equal rights of spouses (A. Mączyński, Divorce in private international law, p. 19). In the case of Polish citizens, dissolution of marriage is subject to Polish law, even if they both have If the spouses are citizens of a foreign country, their common national law shall apply accordingly, and if they have more than one nationality, the law of the country with which they are most closely connected shall apply. if it would have consequences contrary to the fundamental principles of the Polish legal order, it would, for example, lead to discrimination against women. Such a position was already expressed in the decision of February 21, 1975 by the provincial court in Zielona Góra, stating that "the application of foreign law that does not allow a request for divorce by a woman is excluded pursuant to Art. 6 of private international law, because the discrimination against women introduced by them is contrary to the fundamental principles of the Constitution of the Polish People's Republic. " (Decision of S.WOJEW of February 21, 1975, II Cr 109/75, LEX No. 1726675._

The applicable law is determined in accordance with the moment of submitting the request to terminate the marriage, in particular, it may be the moment of submitting the request to the competent authority or submitting a declaration of will with appropriate content.

If it is impossible to establish the common national law of the spouses, the applicable law is the law of the state in which the spouses have their joint residence at the time of the request for divorce, and if such a place cannot be established - the law of the state in which the spouses had their last common habitual residence, provided that that one of them is still habitually resident there. The legal situation is similarly regulated when a marriage is dissolved between persons whose citizenship cannot be established or who do not have the citizenship of any country. (K. Pietrzykowski [in:] International private law. Commentary, edited by J. Poczobut, Warsaw 2017, art. 54.)

Article 54 (1) 3 p.p.m. provides that in the absence of circumstances determining the jurisdiction of the law, pursuant to para. 1 or 2, Polish law shall apply. Sometimes, the application of Polish law may be provided for directly by the provisions of foreign law, if the spouses are domiciled or habitually resident in Poland. It should be borne in mind Art. 365 and 435 of the Civil Code - for whom the decision of the Polish court dissolving the marriage through divorce becomes effective as soon as it becomes final.

Divorce fees

The issue of fees incurred in connection with pending divorce proceedings was regulated in the Act of 28 July 2005 on court costs in civil cases.

Article 26 u.k.s.c. statutes that the fixed fee for a divorce petition is PLN 600. At the same time, it should be noted that in a situation where the divorce would result in the issuance of a judgment without ruling on the fault of any of the parties, the court will reimburse the plaintiff who pays all the costs - half of them, i.e. PLN 300. Moreover, from the former spouse, the Claimant has the right to demand a refund of one-fourth of the court fee in the amount of PLN 150.

Additional costs will not be incurred in connection with the need to resolve issues such as parental responsibility or alimony. In these cases, if the parties have minor children, the court will adjudicate obligatorily.

If the parties decide to challenge the judgment issued in the case, regardless of the scope, i.e. even if the appeal is submitted to part of the decision, e.g. referring only to the issue of regulating contacts with children, the costs of the proceedings will be the same as before the first instance. The required fee will therefore be PLN 600.

The additional fee, in accordance with the provisions of Art. 26 §2 u.k.s.c. you must also submit a spousal maintenance decision. It is relative and amounts to 5% of the annual value of the awarded amount. Also, in the case of ordering the eviction of one of the spouses, a fee of PLN 200 is collected for the decision. Additional costs, in the amount of PLN 11, are also required for submitting a declaration of return to the previous name.

No gradation of blame for the breakdown of marriage

In the decision of 20 November 2020 (III CNP 6/20), the Supreme Court recalled that "for the acceptance of joint guilt for the breakdown of marriage between spouses, it is enough if the other spouse's conduct contributed to this breakdown, even if the degree of his fault was smaller; fault in the breakdown of marital life cannot be graded. " This means that although there may be (and considerable) differences in the extent to which the spouses have contributed to the breakdown of the marriage, the divorce will still be ordered by both spouses. The judgment will not mention who is more guilty of the breakdown of the marriage (possibly it may be described in the justification). The differences in the degree of guilt will also not affect the maintenance obligation between spouses after divorce.

Cohabitation is not marriage

The courts recall that cohabitation is not a marriage. For example, in the judgment of February 24, 2021 (I ACa 337/20), the Szczecin Court of Appeal emphasized that "cohabitation by itself cannot be a source of any rights and obligations regulated in the family and guardianship code. For this reason, the law on marriage cannot be applied to cohabitation, even by analogy. This also applies to the provisions of the Family and Guardianship Code on matrimonial property relations, including settlements following the termination of commonality. A different interpretation would mean, to some extent, the equation of marriage and the informal relationship, for which there is no legal basis. On the other hand, there is no doubt that there is a need to make property settlements after the end of cohabitation. ”. Earlier, the District Court in Olsztyn similarly ruled (decision of November 13, 2019, IX Ca 1195/19), stating that "there are no grounds for applying in the case of settlement of cohabitation the provisions on marital property relations, even by analogy, because it would de facto mean equating marriage and cohabitation in this respect - for which there is no legal basis. Especially because it would destroy the established legal system in which cohabitation was consciously recognized as not subject to regulation by the provisions of the family and guardianship code ”. Therefore, especially the economically weaker party of cohabitation (usually a woman) should strive to get married, as cohabitation will expose her to a high legal and financial risk.

Contradiction of divorce with the principles of social coexistence

The Court of Appeal in Poznań in its judgment of February 12, 2020 (I ACa 230/19) recalled that it is not possible to obtain a divorce if it is contrary to the principles of social coexistence. In particular, when the divorce could not be reconciled with the gross harm suffered by the spouse who opposes the divorce, or when serious social and educational considerations speak against the divorce. It was a repetition of the view expressed in the resolution of the full composition of the Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court of March 18, 1968.