Family Law

According to article 11 of legislation 23/1990, a married individual may file for divorce with the Cypriot Family Courts if either they or their spouse had lived in Cyprus for three months prior to filing. This is true even if the pair wasn’t wed in Cyprus, never resided there as a couple, and neither spouse has a permanent address there or Cypriot citizenship. On the other hand, if neither spouse has resided in Cyprus for at least three months before to filing for divorce, a married person cannot do so even if they are a Cypriot national or the pair was married there. However, a married individual cannot petition for divorce before the Cypriot Family Courts if neither of the spouses has lived in Cyprus for at least three months before to filing, regardless of nationality or whether the pair was married there.

However, if the Brussels II bis regulation (regulation 2201/2003) is in effect and your spouse has a habitual residence in an EU member state, the terms of legislation 23/1990 will not be applicable. In such a situation, the Cypriot Court will only have the authority to grant a divorce if the plaintiff spouse still calls Cyprus home, has been there for at least a year prior to filing the application, or is a citizen of Cyprus and has been there for at least six months.

Cyprus’s divorce laws are too complex in that various groups of people have varied grounds for divorce based on where they live, what religion or denomination they practice, and whether they got married in a civil or religious wedding.

However, there are some grounds for divorce that are applicable to all marriages and all applicants, including the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage due to a factor attributable to the defendant spouse that renders cohabitation in the marriage intolerable to the applicant; and the four-year separation ground, which permits a divorce to be granted regardless of the factors that contributed to the marriage’s dissolution if the spouses have been apart for four years. In reality, these two grounds account for the majority of divorces in Cyprus, rendering meaningless any other grounds that may only apply to specific groups of people.

Only one spouse may request a divorce, and the Family Court will only grant such a request. To convince the court that the divorce reason cited in the application is valid, the applicant spouse must appear before the court and provide testimony. The court will quickly grant the divorce following a brief, uncontested testimony from the applicant confirming that the marriage has ended and providing a very brief explanation of what the applicant believes caused such breakdown. In reality, the actual procedure is in the majority of cases merely formal.

There is no requirement that the cause of a marriage’s dissolution entail any sort of fault on the part of one of the spouses. Therefore, a no-fault divorce may be granted on this premise, such as if the couples’ personalities are incompatible.

In the event of an uncontested divorce application pertaining to a civil ceremony marriage, the divorce may be granted in around six weeks. A notice must be sent to the church before a divorce petition may be filed if the wedding was performed in the Greek Orthodox or Armenian Orthodox Churches. As a result, it now takes four to five months to complete an uncontested divorce. However, if the divorce is challenged, it might take the court up to 18 to 24 months to grant the divorce.

The court’s judgment in a contentious divorce case following a hearing may be appealed. In this situation, the divorce judgment is put on hold until the appeal is resolved.

According to Cyprus law, if a child is born during a marriage, both parents are granted parental rights over the child, which they must jointly exercise. In the event of a dispute between the parents, the court may decide the issue. However, neither parent is required to agree to any decisions they make on their own initiative about the child’s day-to-day care.

The same is true in situations where a quick choice must be made about the kid, such as when an urgent medical surgery is required. The management of the child’s property and the representation of the child before the courts or other authorities are all serious issues relating to the person of the child, such as those relating to the child’s education, the issuance of passports or other travel documents, nationality, religion, country and place of residence, or health. Otherwise, each parent is free to make daily decisions about the kid on their own.

When a child is born outside of marriage, the mother is responsible for raising the child alone until the biological father acknowledges the child, either voluntarily or as a result of a court order. At that point, both parents are responsible for raising the child, and the same rules apply as when a child is born within a marriage.

According to the legislation, in the event that parents are divorcing or living apart, the family court’s ruling will govern how the parents will exercise their parental responsibilities for the kid. The parents continue to share in parental care until such a choice is made. The court will determine the child’s place of residence with either or both parents, or it may order that joint parental responsibility for the child’s upbringing will continue to be shared by both parents.

The most frequent order made by the court is to assign day-to-day care of the kid to the parent with whom the child will dwell and to stipulate that both parents will share in all other responsibilities for parental care. The parent who does not share custody of the kid will be granted overnight visits and other forms of access.

It is not uncommon for the courts to award custody to the father or to order overnight stays with the parent the child chooses for very young children, and occasionally even newborns, when the residence of the child is divided between the two parents (more typically in a 70 to 30 basis rather than a 50 to 50 basis).

According to Law 216/90, each parent is required to make a contribution toward a child’s costs based on their financial capacity. Even if the kid has property, the parents are still obligated to pay for the child’s costs until the court gives them permission to do so.

If there is disagreement about which parent is responsible for covering the child’s expenditures, the court may be asked to grant a maintenance order. Such an application is almost always only made following the separation of the parents, in which case the parent with whom the child resided will request that a maintenance order be issued, directing the other parent to contribute to the child’s expenses by making monthly payments to the resident parent.

The family will often stipulate a monthly sum that the non-resident parent is to give to the resident parent. The order may, however, take different shapes. Most notably, it may require the non-resident parent to make direct payments for a number of child-related costs, including all or a portion of the child’s tuition at school, medical costs, fees for private courses and activities, and so on.

According to Law 216/90, a parent’s duty to support their kid may last over the age of 18 if the youngster is unable to take care of their financial needs on their own (including though the use of its property). According to the legislation, a kid may not be able to pay for their expenditures if they continue their education, such as in high school, college, or a professional program, or if they are obligated to serve in the military.