Which procedure for your divorce ?
Belgian law offers two main paths to divorce. The choice depends on your situation, agreement with your spouse, and the stakes (children, assets, maintenance). Sarah Satti analyses your file together at the first consultation.
1. Divorce by mutual consent (divorce par consentement mutuel)
Both spouses agree on everything: assets, the children's residence and maintenance, and any allowance between them. What they agree is recorded in a prior agreement. The application is then filed as a joint petition at the court registry.
Since 1 September 2018, the procedure is conducted in writing unless the court orders a personal appearance. The court may always order one, in which case the spouses appear together within a month of filing.
2. Divorce for irretrievable breakdown (désunion irrémédiable)
It applies where complete agreement is out of reach. Article 229 of the former Civil Code opens three doors:
- Direct proof (art. 229 § 1): the breakdown is proved by all means of law. No waiting period is required, but the court has to be persuaded.
- Joint application after six months (§ 2): where both spouses apply together after more than six months of de facto separation, the breakdown is deemed established and no longer has to be proved.
- Application by one spouse after one year (§ 3): the same effect, after a de facto separation of more than one year.
De facto separation is proved by all means of law, save confession and oath, and article 1255 itself names the simplest one: residence certificates showing registration at different addresses.
And a third route, which is not a divorce
De facto separation means ending life together without dissolving the marriage. It does not put an end to the obligations of marriage, but it can be the subject of measures ordered by the family court, and after six months or one year it opens the way to divorce for irretrievable breakdown.
Questions to ask beforehand
Before starting a procedure, several elements need to be clarified :
- Do you agree on the principle of divorce ?
- Are there minor children (custody, support) ?
- Do you have assets to divide (property, accounts) ?
- Is maintenance being considered ?
- Is urgency a factor (violence, relocation) ?
The choice of a route is prepared through the questions below. They are gone through at the first consultation, but you can start thinking about them now.
- What do you agree on, and what do you not agree on? This is the question that decides between mutual consent and irretrievable breakdown. Disagreement on a single point does not necessarily rule out the amicable route: what matters is how far it reaches.
- How long have you been living apart? Six months and one year are statutory thresholds. Depending on the date, the simplest route is not the same.
- Are there minor children? Their residence, parental authority and their maintenance have to be settled, whether the divorce is amicable or not.
- Is there property, a loan, a company? Dividing assets follows rules of its own and often brings in a notary.
- Is any element connected with another country? A marriage celebrated abroad, a spouse living outside Belgium, a child residing elsewhere: such situations first raise questions of jurisdiction and applicable law.
There is no need to have settled the answers before the appointment.
How long it takes, on the official figures
Nobody can promise a duration. The College of Courts and Tribunals does, however, publish official statistics every year, and they give an order of magnitude measured on cases already closed.
These figures are medians: half of the cases take less time, the other half take longer. The College states that “the median is a better indicator of the duration of an average case” than the mean, which a few very old files distort.
2025 data, durations measured on cases already closed:
- Divorce by mutual consent (national figure): median 42 days, mean 78 days
- Divorce for irretrievable breakdown, without urgent measures (national): median 133 days, mean 220 days
- Divorce with urgent measures (national): median 208 days, mean 326 days
- French-speaking Family Court of Brussels (all matters together): median 177 days, mean 366 days
The duration measured runs from the entry of the case on the court roll to its closure by a final decision: it does not measure the time between your first appointment and the hearing. The Brussels figure covers all matters together, whereas the durations by type of procedure are national ones: the two series cannot be combined. These data describe what happened in 2025; they forecast nothing.
The documents to gather, and where to obtain them
The documents to be attached to a petition have changed since civil status records were dematerialised.
The documents required by law
For a divorce by mutual consent, the joint petition is accompanied by the prior agreements and, where applicable, by the inventory. One original and one copy are filed, the original being signed by each spouse or by at least one lawyer or one notary.
As for civil status records, the law requires them only where they are not already available in the Civil Status Records Database, in the population registers or in the register of foreign nationals. For a couple registered in Belgium and married in Belgium, they are therefore, in principle, not to be attached.
The documents the Brussels registry asks for
The court publishes its own model petition, and that model asks for more than the statutory text: the agreements in two copies, the marriage certificate, the birth certificate of each spouse, a residence certificate, and the birth certificate of each minor child.
These documents are therefore to be gathered even though the law no longer requires them.
Where to obtain them
- Civil status records drawn up after 31 March 2019: to be requested online on Just-on-web, where you identify yourself with your electronic identity card or with itsme.
- National register certificates (household composition, residence, nationality): free of charge on My FILE.
- Records predating 31 March 2019: from the municipality that drew them up, at the municipal rate.
- Marriage celebrated abroad: it must first be entered in the Civil Status Records Database. That formality frequently delays a filing and is dealt with beforehand.
Who pays the court costs
The split depends on the route chosen, and article 1258 of the Judicial Code settles it expressly.
In a divorce for irretrievable breakdown on a joint application (article 229, § 2), article 1258 provides that, failing agreement to the contrary, the costs are shared in equal parts between the parties, that is, each bears half of the court costs.
Where the divorce is granted on the basis of article 229, § 1 or § 3, again failing agreement to the contrary, each party bears its own costs: each settles its own court costs.
In both cases the text adds that the judge may nevertheless decide otherwise having regard to all the circumstances of the case.
In a divorce by mutual consent, the spouses settle the question themselves in their petition.
The costs set by law
The court registration fee before the court of first instance amounts to €165, it is not claimed when the petition is filed, and its amount is set by articles 269¹ and 269² of the Registration Duties Code. It becomes payable only on the date of the order to pay handed down in the final decision, so it is after that decision, and not when the proceedings are brought, that the Federal Public Service Finance claims payment. Where a case already opened returns before the family court under continued seisin, article 269¹ provides that a single duty is levied, so that no new court registration fee is due. The first enforceable copy of the judgment is issued without registry costs, under article 280 of the same code.
This information is given for guidance only and constitutes neither legal advice nor a contractual undertaking. It may contain errors or have become incomplete. Every situation is particular, and only a consultation makes it possible to assess yours. The court costs mentioned are set by law or by royal decree, and the amounts quoted are those in force at the last update of this page; some of those costs, such as the procedural indemnity, are index-linked and may change during the year, so that only the official scales in force prevail. The durations quoted are official statistical medians describing cases already closed: they are neither a forecast nor a promised time limit. In the event of any discrepancy, only the official texts published in the Belgian Official Gazette and court decisions prevail.
