Family lawyer in Rotterdam: which court, and what you need to arrange

A divorce is a petition procedure, and that means two things: you cannot file it yourself, and the court expects a number of matters to have been arranged before the hearing takes place. This page briefly describes which court hears your case and what you need to arrange. The detailed explanation can be found on the pages divorce and family law.

Which court hears a divorce from Rotterdam?

A divorce of Rotterdam residents is heard by the family team of the District Court of Rotterdam, as a rule at the Rotterdam location on the Wilhelminaplein; appeals go to the Court of Appeal of The Hague.

The municipality of Rotterdam falls under the district of Rotterdam (article 12 of the Judicial Divisions Act (Wet op de rechterlijke indeling)), and that court has two court locations: Rotterdam and Dordrecht. Rechtspraak.nl states that all other family cases are heard at both locations, with the jurisdiction rules of the Code of Civil Procedure being applied to the list of municipalities — and the municipality of Rotterdam belongs to the Rotterdam location.

One exception is worth mentioning. For summary proceedings (kort geding) in family cases a separate route applies: requests in connection with summary proceedings writs of summons yet to be filed are addressed to the office of the preliminary relief judge in Rotterdam, after which the case is scheduled at one of the regular family summary proceedings hearings in Dordrecht or Rotterdam. So if something urgent is at stake — for example concerning contact with your children — your case may indeed end up in Dordrecht.

Do I need a lawyer to get divorced?

Yes: a divorce is a petition procedure before the district court, and article 278(3) of the Code of Civil Procedure provides that the petition is signed by a lawyer.

Unlike before the subdistrict court — where you may represent yourself under article 79(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure — you cannot file a divorce petition yourself.

There are two routes. You can divorce on the basis of a joint request: article 1:150 of the Civil Code allows a divorce at the request of one of the spouses or at their joint request. If you agree, one lawyer for the joint petition is possible. If you do not agree, one of you files the petition and the other needs a lawyer of his or her own.

The substantive threshold is low: article 1:151 of the Civil Code provides that a divorce is pronounced "if the marriage has irretrievably broken down". You do not have to show who is at fault. The discussion is almost never about the divorce itself, but about the children, maintenance and the division.

What must the parenting plan contain?

If you have minor children together, under article 815(2) of the Code of Civil Procedure the divorce petition must contain a parenting plan signed by both parents.

Article 815(3) of the Code of Civil Procedure prescribes that it must in any event contain arrangements on the division of care and upbringing tasks or the arrangements for contact, on the way in which you inform each other about important matters concerning the children, and on the costs of their care and upbringing.

Not possible? Then the procedure does not immediately grind to a halt. Paragraph 6 provides that if the parenting plan cannot reasonably be submitted, other documents may suffice or it may be provided for in another way — at the discretion of the court. That is a safety valve, not a free pass: it pays to reach agreement together.

By way of illustration. Two parents agree on the divorce itself, but not on the division of the holidays. They therefore postpone drawing up a parenting plan. What matters legally is that the petition must in principle contain that plan, and that the court will only accept something else if it turns out that consultation genuinely could not lead to a plan. So the question is not whether they agree on everything, but whether they can show what they did agree and why it did not work out on that one point. This is a hypothetical situation illustrating the rule, not a case handled by our firm.

How long does spousal maintenance last?

If the court does not set a term, the obligation ends by operation of law after a period equal to half the duration of the marriage, with a maximum of five years.

This is laid down in article 1:157(1) of the Civil Code. There are exceptions to this that actually extend the term:

• Paragraph 2 — if the marriage lasted longer than fifteen years and the maintenance creditor is no more than ten years younger than the state pension (AOW) age, the obligation continues until that age is reached.
• Paragraph 3 — if the marriage lasted longer than fifteen years and the creditor was born on or before 1 January 1970 and is more than ten years younger than the state pension age, the obligation ends after ten years.
• Paragraph 4 — the obligation does not end before the children born of the marriage are twelve years old.
• Paragraph 5 — if several of these situations coincide, the longest term applies.

Under paragraph 6, the term starts to run on the date on which the divorce decision is registered in the civil registry — not when you separate. Paragraph 7 also contains a hardship clause, for which the request must be filed within three months after the payments have ended.

Up to what age do I have to pay for my child?

Up to 21: article 1:395a(1) of the Civil Code obliges parents to provide for the costs of living and study of their adult children who have not yet reached the age of twenty-one.

So that obligation does not stop at eighteen. The form does change, however: from the age of eighteen your child is the entitled party, and the contribution is in principle paid to the child instead of to the other parent. Under paragraph 2, the same obligation rests on a step-parent during the marriage or registered partnership, for the children of his or her partner who belong to his or her family.

We disagree about the children — who decides?

In the case of joint parental authority, you can put the dispute before the court under article 1:253a of the Civil Code, which takes such a decision as appears to it desirable in the interests of the child.

Paragraph 2 expressly lists the matters the court can regulate: the division of care and upbringing tasks, the question of with which parent the child has its primary residence, and the way in which you inform each other about important matters. Paragraph 6 provides that the court deals with the request within six weeks.

In one of the most difficult disputes — moving house with the children — the court weighs the interests concretely. In ECLI:NL:RBROT:2020:3240 the District Court of Rotterdam rejected a request for substitute consent for a move to Utrecht: the mother’s interest in that move weighed less heavily than the interests of the father and the children, because the children benefited from the continuity of their school, sports activities and social environment in Rotterdam, and the father had an interest in continuing his substantial share in their care and upbringing.

That sharpens the point: with a move within the same city the balance is struck differently than with a move to another city. Judgments of the District Court of Rotterdam can be consulted free of charge via uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl.

How do I get in touch with the office in Rotterdam?

Call 010 311 5500 during office hours — Monday to Friday from 09:00 to 17:30 — or use the form at https://arslan.nl/contact/.

Our Rotterdam office is a full office at Schiedamsedijk 60-A, 3011 EH Rotterdam, where your file is actually handled. You can schedule appointments by telephone or via the contact page; you can read more about the office on the page Rotterdam office.

Family cases are rarely just legal matters. So besides the documents, above all bring your questions — about the children, about the home, about what remains financially. Besides Dutch, you can also be helped here in Turkish, Polish and English; in a conversation like this, it matters that you can use your own words.