If you’re one of the many international couples living in Spain and have decided to separate, taking counsel from an expert in international divorce can make all the difference.
As one of the top relocation destinations in the world, Spain attracts thousands of international couples every year. Mixed-nationality marriages are common in Madrid, Barcelona and along the Costas. While these unions provide an enriching cultural experience, the different nationalities and jurisdictions can complicate the legal proceedings if the couple later decides to separate.
“It’s true to say that international couples in Spain face the same difficulties as Spaniards themselves when it comes to divorce,” explains Julio Prieto at Del Canto Chambers. “However, international divorce in Spain involves certain complexities that can be overwhelming, which is where expert international counsel comes in.”
Obtaining legal advice from experts in Anglo and Spanish law to determine the strategy that suits you and your circumstances ensures that you make informed decisions, protect assets in both countries, and avoid procedural pitfalls that often arise when two or more legal systems collide.
Whether you are a private client, an entrepreneur or an international business, our team offers clear and strategic support.
If your marriage breaks down and the spouses have links to different countries, you may be entitled to initiate proceedings in more than one jurisdiction. Deciding which country’s courts and which law apply is crucial and must be made carefully: advantages existing under one legal system may not apply in another.
When deciding, the most important factors to consider are:
Under EU regulations and Spanish private international law, courts may take jurisdiction based on habitual residence or nationality. Meanwhile, in the UK, jurisdiction is determined by domicile or habitual residence. Since the United Kingdom is no longer part of the European Union, EU family law regulations no longer apply to UK proceedings. Recognition and enforcement of divorce decrees between the UK and Spain are now governed by domestic private international law and, where applicable, by the 1970 Hague Convention on the Recognition of Divorces and Legal Separations, to which both countries are contracting parties.
Dual-qualified lawyers are key to analyse both systems and to identify the most strategic forum for proceedings.
When property, investments or business interests are located in more than one country, dividing them on divorce requires careful planning and coordinated legal advice. Differences between legal systems can affect how assets are identified, valued, and distributed, particularly where matrimonial property regimes and disclosure obligations vary from one jurisdiction to another.
In the United Kingdom, courts generally expect disclosure of worldwide assets and may include foreign property within the marital estate. In Spain, the division of assets depends on the applicable matrimonial property regime — whether sociedad de gananciales (community property) or separación de bienes (separate property) — and on how those assets were acquired and registered.
Recognition and enforcement add another layer of complexity. Orders issued by UK courts in respect of assets located in Spain are not automatically effective and must first be recognised by the Spanish courts before enforcement can proceed. Conversely, Spanish orders concerning UK-based assets may also require separate recognition procedures under English law.
For families with trusts, offshore holdings or significant wealth, cross-border divorce can have serious implications.
In the UK, a trust may be treated as a nuptial settlement and if such, the court could vary its terms or redistribute its assets. By contrast, In Spain or other civil-law jurisdictions, trusts are not recognised under domestic law and courts will generally look to the underlying ownership and control of the assets to determine their relevance to the matrimonial estate.
Because of these jurisdictional differences, coordinated advice from both common-law and civil-law practitioners is essential.
In many cases, couples assume that divorce litigation is not feasible in Spain and automatically look to the UK. However, our recent cases show that Spanish jurisdiction can sometimes offer more beneficial outcomes, provided the strategy is correctly planned. As always, an effective strategy requires obtaining legal advice from experts in Anglo and Spanish law. Del Canto Chambers enjoys an established network of trusted collaborations with English solicitors as well as Spanish abogados, ensuring that your case benefits from qualified cross-border tax and legal advice.