Anne Battini is a lawyer specializing in family law, and in particular in divorce, at the Paris bar. Today she talks about this new, simpler procedure for divorce.
franceinfo: 130,000 divorces per year in France. We must put things in perspective, this reform comes after a first simplification that took place in 2016 …
Anne Battini: Exactly. The law of November 18, 2016 introduced for the first time – and it was a major upheaval in divorce law – consensual divorce without the intervention of the judge. For the first time, the spouses who agreed to divorce, and who agreed on the consequences of their divorce can, since that date, make an agreement, with the help of their respective lawyer, where all the consequences divorce are planned, on property, custody of children, and it was a big upheaval since there was no more intervention of the judge.
What does this new reform bring?
This contractual divorce remains. What will change is the litigation divorce process. There is a divorce where we agree to divorce but we do not agree on the consequences; there is a second divorce, it is the divorce for alteration of the marital bond, that is to say that the spouses have been separated for a few years, and they do not completely agree on the consequences, and finally there is divorce for fault.
Until now there were two phases in all these contentious divorces: a first phase which was called the conciliation phase where all the spouses – and it was mandatory – had to go before a judge in Family Affairs, and their presence was mandatory.
And the judge’s role was to see if we couldn’t be reconciled?
Absolutely, but now this procedure is deleted. There is now only one phase. A spouse who wants to divorce will assign his spouse for divorce. In the summons, there will be a date.
So this will shorten the procedure?
There is a date immediately, which will give the summons to the other spouse, and this date is very important since it is a condition of validity of the summons. Indeed, the deadlines will be greatly reduced since following this summons, there will be a hearing known as an orientation hearing, where the spouses, for the first time in the history of the divorce, no longer attend. go before the judge, unless specifically requested. That is to say, we will now be able to divorce without ever having met the Family Affairs judge.
This is a good thing ?
There are some people who need to meet with the judge. The conciliation procedure was very specific: the spouses saw the magistrate alone before the hearing. There was a great closeness. Their word was heard and sometimes a lot of things happened, conflicts that could be resolved.
Did it turn the page?
Yes, it was a symbolic hearing, but we need symbols, and it was important for spouses to go before the judge and turn the first page and say to each other, the divorce proceedings have started and the divorce is almost inevitable.
We will not be able to do without lawyers?
Yes, each spouse must have a lawyer; it is mandatory, and from the start of the procedure, and the lawyer will have a good part in this new procedure since he will have to, before the summons, try to find agreements, final or provisional, and always by reconciling the spouses as well as possible.
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