George Papantoniou & Co LLC offers legal advice and legal representation on a broad spectrum of issues related to cohabitation, family, children in the context of divorce or separation, adoption, inter-border issues, family/cohabitants property issues, which include but not limited to:
- Cohabitation: Rights and obligations, property and assets matters more info
- Civil marriage
- Religious marriage
- Divorce more info
- Custody and care of children more info
- Use of family residence
- Maintenance of children/spouse/partner more info
- Regulation of post-divorce relationship between spouses more info
- Division of property/assets more info
- Adoption more info
Brief Introduction:
Registration of a marriage:
In case of a civil or religious marriage we can help you with preparation/submission of necessary documents required for successful registration.
Marriage agreement:
Cyprus law does not recognize prenuptial agreements. However, the parties can enter into property arrangement agreement after their separation.
Since 2015 a new Law has entered into force in Cyprus, by virtue of which two partners (notwithstanding of their sex) can register a Civil Cohabitation Agreement which has equal effect if the partners would register their marriage.
We can assist you to enter into such agreement and arrange for its registration with the authorities.
Procedure up to the registration of a divorce:
In the event of civil marriage only, a divorce application can be registered at any time directly at the Court without any preceding action. However, in the event of both civil and religious marriages, prior to filing a divorce application at the Court, a letter should be dispatched to the Archbishop with the name of the client as sender first. With the letter the intention of the client to file a divorce is notified. The letter shall be sent by registered post. The right to apply for a divorce in court is obtained 3 months after receipt of the letter by the Archbishop.
The religious/ecclesiastical divorce is not obligatory under Cyprus law, however, ex-spouses may wish to proceed with it. Such religious/ecclesiastical divorce can be requested at any time.
Grounds for divorce proceedings
There are several grounds for divorce. Generally, the petitioner must establish that the marriage has irretrievably broken down. The petitioner may also invoke/prove the following: that the respondent has committed adultery, that the respondent has behaved in such a way that the petitioner cannot reasonably be expected to live with him/her, that the respondent has deserted the petitioner, that the parties have lived apart for a continuous period of at least two years, that the parties have lived apart for a period of at least four years and change of religion.
Parents’ Duty to Maintain the Children
In cases of divorce, the duty to maintain children is borne by both parents and it is determined according to the economic and financial means of each parent,. It is subject to the genuine revelation of the parents’ corresponding income.
Death of a Spouse:
In the event of death of one of the two spouses, the dissolution of the marriage is ipso jure.
The exercise of parental responsibility is regulated by the Courts in the event of divorce or void/voidable marriage or when there is a disruption in the co-habitation of the two spouses.
In most cases, mother of a child has full parental responsibility notwithstanding of her religion, nationality or amount of income. In other cases parental responsibility is given to the father of child. The Court will always look to the best interest of a child.
Financial Arrangements on Divorce
The first element that should be verified is the increase of the property, so as to ascertain the object of the distribution. The second issue to be examined is whether one of the two spouses has determined in the increase of the property and thirdly, to determine the degree of the contribution.
The increase of the property is calculated by determining the difference between the value of the property at the time of the divorce and the value of the property at the time acquired. In the calculation of the difference in value, the economic obligations of its owner are also taken into account.
Regulation of post-divorce relationship between spouses
Quite often ex-spouses face difficulties in communication for a quite long time. Abstractive, aggressive behaviour can be punished and a special order of the Court is obtained in order to prevent such behaviour.
The things become more complicated if ex-spouses are having a dependent child.
We can assist you in protecting your personality against unwanted communication/behaviour of your ex-spouse and set up a proper way of such liaison.
Adoption is the legal action which creates parental relation between the adopted child and the adopting parents. As a consequence, a child that does not live with his natural family becomes a member of the adopting family with all the rights that derive from this relationship. The adoption is finalized with the issue of an Order after the submission of the adoption application.
The persons legally entitled to submit the application must fulfill certain criteria: one of them has to be permanently resident in the country, or to have been resident in the country for the past two years as long as during the submission of the application the child to be adopted is resident in the country. Moreover the consent of the natural parents or guardians of the child is required. The adoption should be in the interests of the child to be adopted, therefore a social research is firstly carried out.
The outcome of the adoption is significant as the bonds of the adopted child with its natural family and/or guardian are cut and the child acquires all the legal rights and status of its adopting family. Moreover the hereditary rights of adopted children are the same with the rights of natural children of the adopting family.
For any further information please contact us and we will be pleased to assist you.
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