With a series of recent amendments to the applicable legislation, an effort is being made to modernize Family Law in Cyprus in a way that is in line with the evolution of the social developments, having as ultimate goals making the processing of court cases more efficient by simplifying the legal procedures, safeguarding the rights and interests of the child in the context of the divorce proceedings of the parents and the arrangement of parental custody, protecting the equal rights of the parties and improving the relations between the parties involved in the divorce proceedings.
Below is a summary of the main changes in Family Law brought into effect by the new amending laws:
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Law on Marriage (Law 104 (I)/2003)
The main change made by Law 1(I)/2023 is the introduction of the equivalent of the UK “no-fault” divorce in Cyprus by joint application of the parties, provided that at least 6 months have elapsed from the date of marriage and provided that, if the couple has minor children, the Parental Care and Communication of the children with the parties has been or will be settled by common consent. Another significant change is the decrease of the time required for the presumption of irretrievable breakdown due to separation from four (4) years to two (2) years. Another notable amendment regarding the requirements for entering into a valid marriage is the increase of the age limit from sixteen (16) to eighteen (18) years of age in order to bring national legislation into compliance with European and international standards.
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Law on Family Courts (Law 23/1990)
With amending Law 2(I)/2023 the composition of the Family Courts has been changed from a three-judge to a one-judge chamber and another amendment brought by the said Law is that the same composition of Family Court may now hear all cases pending before all Family Courts between the same parties (i.e. divorce, parental responsibility, property disputes, etc.), regardless of the religious group to which they belong. The aim of this amendment is to save court time and reduce the costs and inconvenience of filing separate applications for each family law dispute. At the same time, applications for interim orders relating to the relationship between spouses and the relationship between parents and children on matters relating to parental custody, maintenance, usage of family home and the use of movable property can now be combined in the same application, without the need to file a separate application at a different court jurisdiction. A very important change is also considered to be the ability of judges to order ex-officio the provision of counselling and/or psychological support to a child if they consider it to be in the child’s best interests, without requiring the consent of the child’s parents.
With changes effected by Law 20(I)/2023, appeals against the decisions of the Family Courts will now be heard by the newly established Court of Appeal and in particular by the President of the Court of Appeal, following the transition period.
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Law on Attempted Conciliation and Spiritual Dissolution of Marriage (Law 22/1990)
For a divorce to be granted, the spiritual dissolution of the marriage is a prerequisite provided that the marriage was conducted by a religious ceremony.
Until recently, a spiritual dissolution required a conciliation procedure between the spouses, which started with the notification of the intention to file a divorce application to the competent Bishop by letter, and it was not allowed to file a divorce application before three (3) months had passed from the date of receipt of the said notification letter.
Now, with the amending Law 226(I)/2022, the notification of intention to file a divorce application may be done only online at https://pnevmatikilysi.cy.net/ and the period of three (3) months has been decreased to six (6) weeks. One significant change regarding the matter of the requirement of the notification to the Bishop is the exemption permitted when the grounds for divorce is irretrievable breakdown due to domestic violence. In this case, the divorce application may be filed without the need to send a notification to the Bishop, provided however, that a complaint has been submitted to the Police or Social Welfare Services regarding the inflicted violence and these authorities have issued a certificate confirming the matter.
This article is for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For more information and specific legal advice please contact us to arrange an appointment.
K. HADJITHOMA & CO LLC
(tel. 22272828, email: [email protected])
