The Franco-Portuguese community is among France’s largest; many French nationals move to Portugal, particularly in retirement. EU rules identify courts and law and ensure recognition. Portugal has distinctive rules: mutual-consent divorce before a civil registrar, mandatory separate property in certain cases and marriage registration before taking steps there.
An initial overview, not a consultation
This page outlines Portuguese law and its connections with French law. It is an initial overview, not a consultation: every situation depends on specific facts and local law changes. For each case, I work with a colleague based in Portugal, who confirms these initial details for your circumstances and acts before local courts when necessary.
0 — Your situation
You are Franco-Portuguese, living in France with Portuguese assets. You moved to Lisbon or the Algarve and one spouse wants to return. You married at a French town hall or Portuguese consulate. Portuguese proceedings began.
1 — Which court?
A common Regulation. France and Portugal use Brussels II ter (Article 3) to identify divorce courts. Courts have jurisdiction notably where spouses are habitually resident, the respondent resides, the applicant has lived for a year (six months if a national), or both spouses are nationals. Several courts may have jurisdiction simultaneously. A Franco-Portuguese couple living in Porto may divorce in Portugal, or France if the French spouse returns and lives there for six months.
In Portugal. Mutual-consent divorce normally takes place before a civil registrar (Conservatória do Registo Civil), without mandatory counsel. For minors, prosecutors review the parenting agreement; disagreement sends the case to court. Unilateral divorce goes to the family and minors court with mandatory counsel and attempted conciliation.
Register marriage first. Foreign marriages, including French ones, must enter the Portuguese register before divorce there or recording foreign divorce. Two Portuguese nationals marrying at the consulate are registered automatically; town-hall marriages require transcription.
First court seised. When two proceedings begin, the second court must stay its case and decline jurisdiction once the first court’s jurisdiction is established (Brussels II ter, Article 20). Filing dates decide priority, sometimes within a few days.
2 — Which law?
A common law. France and Portugal both apply Rome III, so the same law governs divorce whichever court hears it. Without choice: common habitual residence when proceedings begin; otherwise last common residence ending no more than a year earlier with one spouse remaining; otherwise common nationality; otherwise the court’s law (Article 8). Spouses may choose in writing the law of their habitual residence, last common residence, either nationality or the court hearing the case (Article 5). Maintenance in both countries follows the 2007 Hague Protocol, generally the creditor’s habitual-residence law.
International couples. Regulation 2016/1103 governs marriages since 29 January 2019: without choice, first common habitual residence after marriage (Article 26). Earlier rules differ: France generally uses first habitual residence with possible automatic change after ten years elsewhere under the 1978 Convention; Portugal uses common nationality at marriage. Portuguese couples married and settled in France before 2019 may face French law in France and Portuguese law in Portugal.
3 — Recognition
Automatic recognition. French divorce judgments are recognized in Portugal without proceedings, and vice versa (Brussels II ter, Article 30). Children’s decisions have been enforceable without exequatur since 1 August 2022 (Article 34), as are maintenance decisions (Regulation 4/2009). Matrimonial property decisions still require a declaration of enforceability (Regulation 2016/1103, Articles 44 onwards).
Portuguese annotation. French decisions take effect without proceedings but require an averbamento in the civil register, presupposing marriage transcription. Difficulties may be taken to family court for recognition.
Divorce without a judge. French divorce signed by lawyers and deposited with a notary has circulated in the EU since 1 August 2022 with the notary’s certificate (Brussels II ter, Articles 64 to 66).
4 — Your relationship
Portuguese divorce. Since 2008, unilateral divorce does not rely on fault. Grounds include one year’s factual separation, mental impairment or unexplained absence exceeding a year, or any fact showing definitive breakdown. Legal separation may convert after a year. Mutual consent requires agreement on housing, maintenance, children, pets and the assets list or division.
Divorce effects. No spouse may receive more than under community of acquisitions whatever their regime; marital advantages are lost. Maintenance is subsidiary: each first supports themselves and cannot demand marital living standards. Compensation is available for excessive sacrifice of interests, notably employment, for family life.
5 — Your children
Children fall under the same Regulation: jurisdiction generally follows their habitual residence (Brussels II ter, Article 7), and decisions are enforceable in the other country. After wrongful removal, the 1980 Hague Convention applies, reinforced by the Regulation.
Particularly important child decisions are joint; daily matters belong to the resident parent. Since 2020 courts may order alternating residence without agreement. Children are heard without an age threshold; unjustified failure to hear them invalidates the decision.
Foreign relocation is particularly important and needs agreement or a court decision. A parent may oppose departure through border police for up to ninety days if applying to court within thirty. Removing a minor is a criminal offense prosecuted on complaint. Since 1 March 2024, the central authority is DGAJ, accepting French communications. The 1983 bilateral child-protection convention also exists but EU rules limit its practical role.
Maintenance continues through studies until twenty-five. Courts may deduct unpaid support from wages after ten days; family abandonment is criminal. FGADM substitutes for defaulting debtors up to one social index per debtor, only for children living in Portugal.
6 — Your assets
Matrimonial property. Default community of acquisitions (comunhão de adquiridos) may be varied by an antenuptial agreement before a notary or registrar, binding third parties after registration. Separate property is mandatory if the statutory preliminary marriage procedure was omitted or either spouse was at least sixty. The regime is generally unchangeable.
Portuguese real estate is divided by notarial deed or judicial/notarial inventory, recorded in the land register. Before the Conservatória, division may accompany divorce.
For maintenance, Regulation 4/2009 allows French decisions to be enforced in Portugal without exequatur and vice versa, with help from both countries’ central authorities.
Points to watch
Transcribe marriage in Portugal before taking any steps there.
Marrying at sixty or older under Portuguese law requires separate property, which cannot later change.
Emigrants’ marriages without preliminary procedure may trigger mandatory separate property.
Portuguese online divorce is reserved to Portuguese identity-card holders.
7 — My support
An international consultation compares French and Portuguese options, especially cross-border assets. My Portuguese colleague confirms local law and acts before courts and civil registries. Negotiation or family mediation in French is available at the office or remotely.
Official texts and sources
e-Justice portal, national factsheet « Divorce and legal separation » (updated 20 December 2024)
e-Justice portal, national factsheet « Matrimonial property » (updated 13 October 2024)
e-Justice portal, national factsheet « Maintenance obligations » (updated 15 January 2024)
e-Justice portal, national factsheet « Parental responsibility » (updated 5 April 2023)
e-Justice portal, national factsheet « Moving abroad with children » (updated 23 September 2024)
Portuguese Civil Code: consolidated text, Lisbon Prosecutor General
Portuguese government portal: applying for divorce or separation
Portuguese government portal: divorce by mutual consent
Portuguese Ministry of Justice: family mediation
Regulation (EU) 2019/1111, Brussels II ter (divorce, parental responsibility, child abduction)
Regulation (EU) No 1259/2010 Rome III (law applicable to divorce)
Regulation (EC) No 4/2009 (maintenance obligations)
Regulation (EU) 2016/1103 (matrimonial property)