Family law in Tilburg: where your divorce is heard

Anyone getting divorced in Tilburg usually assumes that the case will be heard in Tilburg. After all, there is a court building in the city, on the Piusplein. For family cases that assumption is wrong, and that is the most concrete thing there is to say about family law in Tilburg.

This page explains where your case does go, why that is, and which exception exists specifically for Tilburg. The substantive explanation of divorce, maintenance and parental authority can be found on the pages family law and divorce.

Which court hears a divorce of Tilburg residents?

The District Court of Zeeland-West-Brabant — there is no District Court of Tilburg — but the hearing does not take place in Tilburg: divorce cases are heard at the court locations of Breda and Middelburg, and for people from Tilburg that is Breda.

Under section 13 of the Judicial Divisions Act (Wet op de rechterlijke indeling), the municipality of Tilburg falls within the district of Zeeland-West-Brabant. That district covers the whole province of Zeeland plus a number of Brabant municipalities, including Tilburg, Breda, Waalwijk, Oisterwijk, Goirle, Dongen and Loon op Zand.

That court has four court locations. Which cases are heard where is set out in the case allocation regulations (zaaksverdelingsreglement) of the District Court of Zeeland-West-Brabant, which entered into force on 1 April 2025 and were published in the Government Gazette (Stcrt. 2025, 10740). In the table in those regulations, the family law categories — "Scheiding c.a." (divorce and related matters), "Levensonderhoud" (maintenance), "Gezag, omgang, woonplaats" (parental authority, contact, residence) and "Verdeling / verrekening" (division / set-off) — are ticked only for the court locations of Breda and Middelburg. Not for Tilburg and not for Bergen op Zoom.

In practical terms, that means the following address:

That this is also how it works in practice can be seen in the published judgments: family cases of this court consistently appear under "Team Familie- en Jeugdrecht, zittingsplaats Breda" or "Middelburg". One example is a decision of 19 June 2026 on a request to amend the care and contact arrangement for a child in advance (ECLI:NL:RBZWB:2026:6633) — court location Breda, with a lawyer from Tilburg.

If you appeal, the case goes to the Court of Appeal of 's-Hertogenbosch; under section 17 of the Judicial Divisions Act, Zeeland-West-Brabant falls within its jurisdiction.

Why this matters. Allow for travel time to Breda, and bear in mind that children who are heard by the court also have to go there. Anyone who knows this in advance plans the day differently from someone who discovers on the morning of the hearing that the Piusplein is the wrong building.

What is neighbourhood justice (wijkrechtspraak) in Tilburg?

Neighbourhood justice is a Tilburg facility under which certain cases — including divorces — are heard not in the court building but in a community centre in the city, for residents who themselves want to take part.

This is the exception to the rule above, and Tilburg is one of the few places in the Netherlands where it exists. Besides the four court buildings, the case allocation regulations name two additional hearing locations, which are only open when the neighbourhood judge is holding hearings or conducting interviews:

• community centre De Ypelaer, Corellistraat 10, 5049 EM Tilburg;
• Het Kruispunt, Sinopelstraat 1, 5044 KP Tilburg.

The scheme has been running as a pilot since 1 July 2023. According to the regulations, it is intended for residents of the Tilburg-West and Noord neighbourhoods with multiple problems, and for minor residents of Tilburg who have close ties with those neighbourhoods. Participation is voluntary: only if those involved have indicated that they are willing to take part are their cases heard at those locations.

It covers the following areas of law:

• all court proceedings concerning debts and (financial) administration, including protective administration (bewind), guardianship (curatele) and mentorship;
• divorces and all family and youth cases arising from them;
• compulsory education cases;
• criminal cases that would normally be heard by the police court judge or the juvenile court judge.

If you fall within that target group, your divorce can therefore be heard in Tilburg after all — just not on the Piusplein, but in the neighbourhood. Whether that is possible in your case is a question that belongs at the start of the case, not halfway through.

What must the petition contain if there are children?

If there are minor children, the divorce petition must include a parenting plan signed by both parents.

This is laid down in article 815 of the Code of Civil Procedure. Paragraph 2 requires a parenting plan signed by both spouses for their joint minor children. Paragraph 3 prescribes what it must in any event contain:

• how the parents divide the care and upbringing tasks, or how they give shape to the right and duty of contact;
• how they inform and consult each other on important matters concerning the person and the property of the children;
• the costs of the care and upbringing of the children.

Paragraph 4 also requires the petition to state on which points the parties agree and on which they do not — with the grounds for this — and in what way the children have been involved in the plan.

Under article 1:150 of the Civil Code, the divorce itself is pronounced at the request of one of the spouses or at their joint request. The ground is set out in article 1:151 of the Civil Code: at the request of one of them, the divorce is pronounced if the marriage has irretrievably broken down. Nothing more is needed; the question of fault plays no role.

How long does spousal maintenance last?

If the court has not set a term, spousal maintenance ends by operation of law after half the duration of the marriage, with a maximum of five years.

That is the main rule of article 1:157(1) of the Civil Code. There are three exceptions that actually extend the term:

• Paragraph 2 — if, when the petition was filed, the marriage had 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 has been reached.
• Paragraph 3 — if the marriage lasted longer than fifteen years and the creditor was born on or before 1 January 1970, while he or she is more than ten years younger than the state pension age, the obligation ends after ten years.
• Paragraph 4 — if children were born of the marriage, the obligation does not end before those children have reached the age of twelve.

If several of these situations overlap, under paragraph 5 the longest term applies. Under paragraph 6, the clock starts running on the date on which the divorce decision is registered in the civil registry — not on the day of the ruling.

There is also an escape clause. Paragraph 7 provides that the court may still set a term if ending the payments cannot, in view of all the circumstances, reasonably and fairly be required of the creditor. There is a hard limit to this: that request must be filed before three months have passed since the payments ended.

By way of illustration. After her divorce, a woman receives spousal maintenance without the court having set an end date. Five years after registration, the payments stop; she assumes that her ex-partner is in default and lets it rest for six months before seeking advice. Legally, something has then gone wrong that has nothing to do with the amount of the maintenance: if no term was set, the obligation ends by operation of law, and the possibility of still asking the court to set a term must be used within three months of that ending. So the question is not whether she still needs it, but whether she is in time. This is a hypothetical situation illustrating the rule, not a case handled by our firm.

Can I arrange anything while the proceedings are pending?

Yes — in divorce cases either spouse can request provisional measures, and these are dealt with as a matter of priority.

Article 821 of the Code of Civil Procedure governs this. Paragraph 1 gives each of the spouses the right to request provisional measures in cases of divorce or legal separation (scheiding van tafel en bed). Paragraph 2 contains the provision that makes this so useful in practice: the oral hearing begins no later than in the third week following the week in which the measure was requested. Paragraph 3 adds that the court decides as soon as possible after that hearing.

There is one pitfall. If you request a provisional measure before the divorce petition itself has been filed, under paragraph 4 that decision lapses if a petition for divorce or legal separation is not filed within four weeks of its date.

If the proceedings are already pending, there is a second route: an interim measure under article 223 of the Code of Civil Procedure. In the decision of 19 June 2026 already mentioned above (ECLI:NL:RBZWB:2026:6633), the District Court of Zeeland-West-Brabant, court location Breda, explained how this works: article 223(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure allows any party to claim an interim measure during pending proceedings, under paragraph 2 the claim must be connected with the main claim, and in petition proceedings such a measure can be requested by analogy with that article. It is only granted if there is a sufficiently urgent interest — in the sense that the parties cannot be expected to await the outcome of the main proceedings — after which the court weighs the interests against the expected remaining duration of the main proceedings and the prospects of success in them. In that case the request was refused.

Where is Arslan Advocaten in Tilburg?

Arslan Advocaten has an office in Tilburg at Kraaivenstraat 38-10, 5048 AB Tilburg, reachable on 013 747 0022 — you can visit it by appointment only.

We receive you here by appointment only; without an appointment you will probably not find anyone here who can discuss your case. In family cases this matters all the more, because the first meeting is almost always the most important part and requires time and calm. So call 013 747 0022 or use the contact page to have a time scheduled. More about this location can be found on the page Tilburg office.

Bear in mind that the meeting can take place in Tilburg, but the hearing in Breda.

How do I get in touch about a family case in Tilburg?

Call 013 747 0022 on working days between 09:00 and 17:30, or use the form at https://arslan.nl/contact/.

Briefly describe what is going on and whether children are involved; in family cases that almost immediately determines which documents are needed and whether a parenting plan has to be drawn up. If proceedings are already under way, or if a date has been given by which you must respond, mention it straight away.

Besides Dutch, Arslan Advocaten can also help you in Turkish, Polish and English. In family cases in particular, it pays to have the conversation in your own language: someone who can explain their situation in their own language tells the details that really matter. When making the appointment, indicate which language you would like.