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This is how a divorce goes

Divorce means not only to stop living together, but to dissolve the marriage. It must be pronounced by the court by means of a written divorce decree.

Divorce agreement

This doesn't mean you have to go through an elaborate, year-long divorce process. If you agree on a divorce settlement, the judge must generally respect it. No actual approval is required.

However, the court has to check whether the solution reached is not obviously unreasonable. Certain legal guidelines also apply to the division of pension fund and vested benefit assets. If you have minor children at the time of the divorce, the court must ensure that their interests are protected. This applies both to personal aspects (care, contact with parents, etc.) and to financial maintenance.

A fair divorce agreement allows you to regulate your living conditions yourself according to your own ideas.

Consultation

When you conclude a divorce agreement (convention) and submit it to the court with the petition for divorce, it will invite you to a hearing. It will consider, in the sense mentioned above, whether it can be included in the divorce decree. The court will also ask you to submit various documents required for this purpose (family certificate from the civil registry office, tax return, bank statements, pension fund statement, etc.). After the court hearing, if the requirements are met, the court will send you the written divorce decree. Once the decree becomes final, you are divorced.

Duration and costs

In the case of an amicable settlement, the divorce can be completed within a few months. In the case of a contested divorce in court, on the other hand, it can take years and involve a corresponding financial outlay.

If one spouse opposes the divorce, he or she may insist on the expiration of a two-year separation period beforehand.

In the absence of sufficient financial means, the court may grant free legal aid. This must be reimbursed at a later date if the financial situation allows it at that time.

Children

In the case of minor children, it is important that both parents talk to them and make it clear that they love them and that the divorce was not caused by the children, that the children are not to blame for it. Children bear a heavy burden of divorce and wish for a long time that their parents would find their way back to each other. Experience shows that school performance drops for several months.

Changes

Divorce and an accompanying dissolution of the joint household bring several changes (if this has not already occurred earlier):

  • You now need two homes.
  • How will the furniture be distributed between the two apartments?
  • The change of address of the spouse moving out must be reported to the old and the new municipality.
  • The tax office must be informed and a division of open tax debts can be requested.
  • If you have minor children, it is important to make arrangements for the children: How will care times be divided among the parents (so-called custody)? In which municipality and at which address are the children officially registered (school location)? How do you want to handle vacations, weekends, holidays? Are the children still allowed to communicate freely with both parents (digitally, by phone, by letter)?

Distribution of assets

The assets and debts (including outstanding alimony payments) are to be allocated to the spouses. The property division is to be carried out. The date of the initiation of the divorce proceedings (filing of the divorce petition with the court) is decisive for the determination of the inventory of assets and liabilities, the date of the divorce is decisive for the valuation. If both are close to each other, it usually does not make much difference. The same applies to the division of pension fund assets and vested benefits.

Bank and PostFinance powers of attorney must be cancelled, access to credit cards must be closed, joint accounts must be liquidated.

If one spouse or both have a property jointly, the financing shares must be determined and any profit or loss allocated. In the case of joint ownership, the question of what is to be done with the property must be clarified, whether it is possible for only one of the spouses to continue to hold the mortgages, whether a sale should possibly be initiated.

Maintenance

For children and, depending on the situation, for one of the spouses, it must be clarified in accordance with the law and case law whether maintenance payments are to be made, in what amount and for how long. There may be different phases, for each of which a complete calculation must be made. The respective maintenance due must be determined, as well as the earning potential of the spouses, the cost of living with external childcare and taxes, taking into account the school levels and the number of children.

Old-age provision

Marital AHV assets are to be split. Likewise, marital pension fund and vested benefit assets are to be split. It must also be regulated who is to receive the AHV education credits.

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