You live in France, your husband or wife has gone back to England — or the reverse — and one of you has just said the word divorce. The first question is brutally practical: where do you file, in the French family court or in the English family court, and will the other country recognise what the first court decides? The second question is about money and children: who keeps the house in Dordogne or Provence, what happens to a French pension and an English pension, will there be a lump sum to even out living standards, and where will the children live and go to school? Since Brexit, the United Kingdom is a third State for the European Union’s divorce jurisdiction rules, so the answer is no longer the smooth intra-EU mechanism British couples relied on before 2021. This guide explains, for a British reader, the French route in full: which French court can hear your case, which law the French judge applies when one spouse is British or lives in England, how the matrimonial home and the compensatory allowance work, what happens to children, and how to challenge a decision or a foreign decree. French terms are translated at first use. This is general information, not advice on your case.

I. Which court can divorce you after Brexit, and will the other country accept the divorce?

A. Where to file first when one spouse lives in France and the other in England

In France, divorce cases go before the family division of the judicial court, known as the juge aux affaires familiales (family court judge, often shortened to JAF) sitting within the tribunal judiciaire (the ordinary civil court of first instance). The founding rule lists four alternative grounds. The Civil Code Article 229 on Légifrance states: “Les époux peuvent consentir mutuellement à leur divorce par acte sous signature privée contresigné par avocats, déposé au rang des minutes d’un notaire. Le divorce peut être prononcé en cas : -soit de consentement mutuel, dans le cas prévu au 1° de l’article 229-2 ; -soit d’acceptation du principe de la rupture du mariage ; -soit d’altération définitive du lien conjugal ; -soit de faute.” In plain English: mutual consent by private deed filed with a notary, mutual consent before a judge, acceptance of the principle of the breakdown, irretrievable breakdown after separation, or fault. For a franco-British couple, the private-deed route — the divorce par consentement mutuel extrajudiciaire (non-court mutual-consent divorce signed with two lawyers and filed with a notary) — is usually unsuitable as soon as there is a cross-border element, an English pension to split, disputed property, or any doubt about recognition in England. Take the court route and get advice in both countries before signing anything.

Which French court is competent locally? The Code of Civil Procedure Article 1070 on Légifrance provides: “Le juge aux affaires familiales territorialement compétent est : – le juge du lieu où se trouve la résidence de la famille ; – si les parents vivent séparément, le juge du lieu de résidence du parent avec lequel résident habituellement les enfants mineurs en cas d’exercice en commun de l’autorité parentale, ou du lieu de résidence du parent qui exerce seul cette autorité ; – dans les autres cas, le juge du lieu où réside celui qui n’a pas pris l’initiative de la procédure. En cas de demande conjointe, le juge compétent est, selon le choix des parties, celui du lieu où réside l’une ou l’autre.” In practice: if the family home is in France, the court of that place; if you live apart and share parental authority, the court where the children habitually live; otherwise usually the court where the spouse who did not start the case lives. For maintenance-only claims the creditor’s court can also be competent. Jurisdiction is assessed at the date of the application — the demande (the initial petition) — so a move after filing does not shift the case. File where the connecting factors are strongest and most durable: the children’s school, the family home, your tax residence, your residence permit.

At European level, jurisdiction between the courts of EU Member States is governed by Council Regulation (EU) 2019/1111, known as Brussels IIb or Brussels II ter, which has applied since 1 August 2022. Its Article 3 of Regulation 2019/1111 on EUR-Lex states: In matters relating to divorce, legal separation or marriage annulment, the Regulation gives jurisdiction to the courts of the Member State linked to the spouses by residence or nationality The Regulation then lists alternative connectors: spouses habitually resident, spouses last habitually resident where one still lives, respondent habitually resident, joint application where either spouse lives, applicant resident for at least a year (or six months with nationality), or the nationality of both spouses. Habitual residence — résidence habituelle — means the real centre of life, not merely a postal address: schools, work, tax, healthcare registration, length and stability of presence. If you and your spouse both live in France, or you last lived together in France and one of you still does, the French court plainly has jurisdiction. If you are the applicant, have lived in France for over a year, and file in France, jurisdiction is equally solid.

The Brexit twist is that the United Kingdom is no longer bound by this Regulation. Before 2021, the old Brussels IIa Regulation organised a strict first-seised rule between the UK and France: the court seised first kept the case. That mechanism is gone. Today, if proceedings are started in parallel — one petition in Paris or Bordeaux, one in London — there is no automatic EU lis pendens rule forcing the second court to stand down. Each court applies its own domestic rules on stays and forum disputes, and each country later decides whether to recognise the other’s decree. The English court applies English domestic jurisdictional rules for divorce (domicile or habitual residence conditions explained on the official GOV.UK divorce pages), while the French court applies Brussels IIb plus its domestic rules. The practical lesson is the one every cross-border family lawyer repeats: do not drift. If reconciliation is excluded, decide the forum deliberately and file promptly in the country whose orders will be most effective over the assets and the children, because the family home in France, a French bank account, or children schooled in France are far easier to deal with through a French judgment. Conversely, if the bulk of the wealth and both pensions sit in England, English proceedings may be tactically attractive — but only an English solicitor can confirm that, and you need coordinated advice so the two cases do not produce contradictory orders.

Recognition then runs in both directions under different instruments. A French divorce judgment circulates freely within the EU under Brussels IIb, but for England it is a third-State judgment: recognition in England and Wales is a matter for English domestic law, and you should have the French decree checked by an English solicitor before relying on it for a house sale, a pension sharing order, or a remarriage. In the other direction, a foreign divorce concerning status is generally given effect in France without a prior enforcement procedure, whereas anything ordering payment, transferring property, or dividing a pension and needing coercive enforcement in France typically requires an enforcement procedure — the exequatur (a court declaration making a foreign judgment enforceable in France) — before a bailiff, the land registry, or a pension body will act. The 1970 Hague Convention on the recognition of divorces and legal separations remains part of the landscape for some States, and the French courts apply their established case law on recognising foreign status decisions. Keep every original: the decree, the certificate of no appeal, translations by a sworn translator — traducteur assermenté — and proof of service. If your spouse files in England after you filed in France, do not ignore the English papers; enter an appearance, contest jurisdiction if appropriate, and make sure your French lawyer and your English solicitor speak to each other within days, because default orders are far harder to undo than to prevent.

The official French starting point for the court procedure in English is the service-public.fr page on judicial divorce procedure, which describes the stages and the role of the family court judge. Read it, then treat forum choice as the single most valuable decision of the whole case: it shapes the applicable law, the timetable, the language of the proceedings, the cost, and ultimately what you keep.

B. Which law the French judge applies when the couple is British, mixed, or split across the Channel

Jurisdiction answers which court hears the case; applicable law — loi applicable — answers which country’s divorce rules the judge uses. Many British spouses assume that because they are British, English law follows them, or conversely that living in France means French law automatically governs everything. Neither assumption is safe. Within the EU, an instrument called Rome III (Regulation (EU) No 1259/2010) lets spouses in participating States choose the applicable law within limits, but the United Kingdom never took part in Rome III, so a French court dealing with a British spouse does not apply Rome III the way it would for, say, a Franco-German couple. Instead it applies the French domestic conflict rule in the Civil Code, Article 309, and the case law interpreting it. That is why the same couple can face different substantive outcomes depending on where they file: a French judge and an English judge do not necessarily apply the same law to the same marriage.

The Civil Code Article 309 on Légifrance reads: “Le divorce et la séparation de corps sont régis par la loi française : – lorsque l’un et l’autre époux sont de nationalité française ; – lorsque les époux ont, l’un et l’autre, leur domicile sur le territoire français ; – lorsque aucune loi étrangère ne se reconnaît compétence, alors que les tribunaux français sont compétents pour connaître du divorce ou de la séparation de corps.” Three gateways to French law: both spouses French, both domiciled in France, or no foreign law claims competence while the French courts are competent. Domicile here — domicile — is a precise legal concept, close to but not identical with habitual residence, and the assessment date matters enormously.

The Court of Cassation — the Cour de cassation, France’s highest civil court — has policed this article strictly. In a 2010 ruling on a Franco-Romanian couple married in France, where the wife filed in Lyon and later moved to Italy, the husband argued the court should have applied foreign law of its own motion. The Court rejected the appeal, holding, in the words reported in the official decision database: “la juridiction étant saisie au jour de la requête en divorce, c’est à cette date qu’il convient d’apprécier le domicile des époux pour la mise en oeuvre de l’article 309-2 du code civil désignant la loi française lorsque les époux sont l’un et l’autre domiciliés en France” (see Court of Cassation, 1st Civil Chamber, 8 July 2010, No 09-66.658). Translation: the court is seised on the date of the divorce petition, and domicile is assessed at that date for Article 309. If both spouses were domiciled in France on petition day, French law governs — a later move to Italy or England does not retrospectively change the applicable law. For a British couple settled in France, this is reassuring: file while both domiciles are in France and French substantive divorce law will normally apply.

The mirror decision shows what happens when the judge skips the verification. In a Franco-German case where the husband filed in Paris while the wife lived in Germany, the Paris appeal court applied French law without checking whether German law claimed competence. The Court of Cassation quashed, recalling: “lorsque l’un et l’autre époux ne sont pas de nationalité française ou domiciliés en France et que les tribunaux français sont compétents pour connaître du divorce, celui-ci est régi par la loi française lorsqu’aucune loi étrangère ne se reconnaît compétente” and holding that “sans rechercher, avant d’appliquer le droit français, si la loi allemande ne se reconnaissait pas compétente, la cour d’appel a violé le texte susvisé” (see Court of Cassation, 1st Civil Chamber, 4 June 2009, Nos 08-11.872 and 08-14.309). In English: the appeal court violated Article 309 by failing to examine, before applying French law, whether German law claimed competence. Transpose this to a franco-British split — one spouse domiciled in France, the other in England, different nationalities — and the French judge must actively verify whether English law claims competence before defaulting to French law. In practice the judge needs evidence of English law, usually through a legal opinion — certificat de coutume (a certificate or opinion on foreign law) — or expert evidence. If you want French law or English law to apply, prepare that proof early rather than hoping the court will assume it.

What does this mean for the grounds of divorce themselves? French substantive law offers the four judicial routes plus the extrajudicial consent route. Fault — divorce pour faute — is defined by the Civil Code Article 242 on Légifrance: “Le divorce peut être demandé par l’un des époux lorsque des faits constitutifs d’une violation grave ou renouvelée des devoirs et obligations du mariage sont imputables à son conjoint et rendent intolérable le maintien de la vie commune.” Irretrievable breakdown — altération définitive du lien conjugal — is defined by the Civil Code Article 238 on Légifrance: “L’altération définitive du lien conjugal résulte de la cessation de la communauté de vie entre les époux, lorsqu’ils vivent séparés depuis un an lors de la demande en divorce.” Acceptance of the principle of breakdown — acceptation du principe de la rupture — lets both spouses agree the marriage is over without stating why, while leaving money and children to the judge. For British spouses accustomed to England’s no-fault divorce since April 2022, the French fault ground can feel alien and adversarial: plead it only with solid, admissible evidence — bailiff reports (constats d’huissier, now commissaire de justice), messages obtained lawfully, bank statements — because unlawfully obtained evidence and mere allegations backfire. Often the cleaner strategy is acceptance or one-year separation, reserving energy for the financial fight that truly matters.

Two traps deserve emphasis. First, matrimonial property regimes and succession are governed by their own instruments, not by the divorce applicable law: the EU Matrimonial Property Regulations do not bind the UK either, and English courts do not divide property through community concepts the French way. If you married in England without a French marriage contract, your regime may be an English separation-of-assets logic that a French notary must carefully characterise at liquidation. Second, wills and English-law choices made for succession do not dictate divorce outcomes: choosing English law for your succession under the EU Succession Regulation, as explained in our guide to English wills covering a French house, has no bearing on which divorce law the family judge applies. Keep the files separate in your mind: divorce, property liquidation, maintenance, children, succession, tax. Win each on its own rules.

II. Money, children and the French house: what the French judge actually decides, and how to challenge it

A. How to protect the French house, the pensions and your future standard of living

Money first, because this is where British litigants are most surprised. French divorce economics rest on three distinct layers: the liquidation of the matrimonial property regime — liquidation du régime matrimonial (sharing what the marriage’s property rules allocate to each spouse); the compensatory allowance — prestation compensatoire (a lump sum evening out the future living standards the divorce disrupts); and ongoing support where due. Add the roof over your head — the logement familial (family home) — and pensions on both sides of the Channel, and you have the full picture to negotiate or litigate.

The compensatory allowance is the heart of many cases. The Civil Code Article 270 on Légifrance states: “Le divorce met fin au devoir de secours entre époux. L’un des époux peut être tenu de verser à l’autre une prestation destinée à compenser, autant qu’il est possible, la disparité que la rupture du mariage crée dans les conditions de vie respectives.” Divorce ends the duty of support, and one spouse may owe the other a forfaitary capital sum fixed by the judge. How the judge fixes it is governed by the Civil Code Article 271 on Légifrance: “La prestation compensatoire est fixée selon les besoins de l’époux à qui elle est versée et les ressources de l’autre en tenant compte de la situation au moment du divorce et de l’évolution de celle-ci dans un avenir prévisible.” The judge then weighs a statutory checklist: length of the marriage, age and health, qualifications and careers, career sacrifices for children or for the other spouse’s career, existing and foreseeable assets and income after liquidation, existing and foreseeable rights, and crucially the expected reduction in retirement rights caused by those family choices.

The Court of Cassation gave this checklist real teeth in December 2025. A wife sought a compensatory allowance; the appeal court acknowledged a disparity in living standards but refused any payment because the gap predated the marriage — she had always earned less — and because she had not sacrificed her career. The Court quashed, ruling: “Il résulte du premier de ces textes que l’un des époux peut être tenu de verser à l’autre une prestation destinée à compenser, autant qu’il est possible, la disparité que la rupture du mariage crée dans les conditions de vie respectives. Selon le second, la prestation compensatoire est fixée selon les besoins de l’époux à qui elle est versée et les ressources de l’autre, en tenant compte de la situation au moment du divorce et de l’évolution de celle-ci dans un avenir prévisible.” It added: “la différence de situation professionnelle ou de rémunération patrimoniale existant entre les époux antérieurement au mariage ne peut être un critère de refus d’octroi de la prestation compensatoire puisque celle-ci vise à maintenir la parité qu’assurait l’union matrimoniale, et, d’autre part, que c’est au moment du prononcé du divorce, qui met fin au devoir de secours, que le juge doit se placer pour la fixer” (see Court of Cassation, 1st Civil Chamber, 10 December 2025, No 24-13.557). In English: a pre-existing pay gap is no ground to refuse the allowance, since its purpose is to preserve the parity married life provided, and the judge must stand at the date of the divorce — when the duty of support ends — to assess needs, resources and foreseeable pensions. For the British spouse who gave up work to follow a partner to France, raise children, or run the holiday-home project, this decision is the single most useful authority in the file: document the marriage’s duration, your age and health, your qualifications, the career you paused, the pension rights you lost in both countries, and the foreseeable income gap.

The French house then follows the property regime, not sentiment. Couples married in England without a contract are often surprised to learn the French notary — the notaire (a public officer who authenticates conveyances, marriage contracts and successions) — must characterise an English-implied regime before any sale or buy-out. If the home was bought jointly, each share, each contribution from separate funds — fonds propres — each loan repayment, and each improvement must be traced with bank records. If it sits in a property company — the société civile immobilière or SCI (a French non-trading property company often used by British families to hold a holiday home) — the shares, the current-account advances, and the occupation indemnity all enter the computation. Get a proper valuation — two agents plus a notarial appraisal for high-value homes — and freeze the paperwork: title deed (titre de propriété), loan offers, statements showing who paid what, tax notices, insurance, and any building works invoices. The spouse who remains in the home pending divorce usually pays an occupation indemnity — indemnité d’occupation — unless the judge grants free use as part of interim measures. Ask for interim exclusive use early through the orientation and interim-measures order — the ordonnance d’orientation et sur mesures provisoires — and keep paying the mortgage and insurance jointly until the judge allocates them, because arrears destroy credit and bargaining power in both countries.

Pensions require the same dual-country method. A French pension statement — relevé de situation individuelle — shows trimesters and points; a UK State Pension forecast and any workplace or private pension statements show the English side. The French judge can compensate the pension gap through the compensatory allowance, weighting the foreseeable loss of retirement rights, but cannot directly rewrite an English pension scheme’s rules: any sharing of an English pension needs an English pension sharing order, which is why parallel advice matters. State pensions continue to be paid cross-border and, for residents in France, remain annually uprated under the UK-France social security coordination carried over from EU rules — but income tax on pensions follows residence and the France-UK double tax treaty, with French declaration of worldwide income. Bring to the first appointment: three years of tax returns in both countries, twelve months of bank statements, payslips, pension forecasts, the marriage certificate with sworn translation, and a schedule of who funded what. The spouse who proves with documents normally outperforms the spouse who asserts with adjectives.

Tax is the silent fourth layer. The year of divorce changes the household quotient — the quotient familial (the French system dividing taxable income into shares) — filing status, and possibly the housing tax and property tax allocation between occupants. Capital gains on the sale of the former family home, timing of the buy-out, and the deductibility of support payments all carry tax consequences in France, with treaty credit mechanics in the UK. Coordinate the family lawyer with the tax adviser before agreeing dates and prices, not after.

B. How to shield the children, secure enforcement, and challenge a bad decision

Children come before property in every French courtroom, and the vocabulary matters. Parental authority — autorité parentale (the bundle of rights and duties over the child) — is normally joint even after divorce; what the judge fixes is the child’s habitual residence, the other parent’s contact — droit de visite et d’hébergement (visiting and overnight-stay rights) — and each parent’s contribution to upkeep and education — the contribution à l’entretien et à l’éducation de l’enfant. The judge decides by the child’s best interests: stability of schooling in France, language, sibling bonds, each parent’s availability, any history of violence, and, depending on age and maturity, the child’s own words heard by the judge. Since Brexit, custody jurisdiction and applicable law for children habitually resident in France remain anchored in French courts applying the 1996 Hague Protection Convention framework alongside domestic law, while maintenance obligations invoke the 2007 Hague Maintenance Convention and its Protocol rather than the old EU Maintenance Regulation vis-à-vis the UK. Practically: the French judge can fix residence and contact for children living in France and set a monthly contribution indexed to the cost of living, with direct payment machinery if the debtor defaults. If the children live in England, or one parent plans to relocate them, seek advice before any move — a unilateral removal, even by a parent, can trigger Hague abduction proceedings, and courts treat fait accompli removals severely.

Interim protection is fast when asked for properly. The orientation and interim-measures order can allocate the home, set interim maintenance, organise contact, freeze dissipation of assets, and order production of bank documents. For maintenance enforcement inside France, the toolbox includes direct payment from wages or bank accounts, Treasury recovery, and penalty-backed orders. For cross-Channel enforcement, the Hague maintenance instruments provide channels between France and the UK for recognition and recovery, but papers must be complete: the enforceable order, proof of service, certificate of enforceability, sworn translations. Start the translation and certification file the day judgment is rendered, not the day payments stop. For property and pensions located in England, an English enforcement step will almost always be needed; your English solicitor should diary it alongside the French appeal deadline.

Challenging a decision takes three distinct forms, and confusing them wastes the short windows. First, appeal — appel — against the French divorce judgment to the court of appeal, on facts and law, within the deadline printed at the foot of the judgment (act immediately; service methods and extended distances for parties abroad complicate computation, so instruct counsel on receipt). Grounds that succeed include misapplication of Article 309 on applicable law, refusal of a compensatory allowance on legally wrong criteria as in the December 2025 ruling above, manifest misvaluation of the house or pensions, or a contact regime contrary to the children’s interests with fresh evidence. Second, contesting the applicable-law reasoning itself: if the first judge applied French law without examining whether English law claimed competence, the 2009 quashing precedent gives a clean appellate lever — demand the certificate of foreign law and put it in the file. Third, resisting or seeking recognition of the other country’s decree: oppose enforcement in France where the foreign order offends French international public policy, where jurisdiction was exorbitant, or where due process failed; symmetrically, have your French judgment recognised in England promptly through English counsel so a later English order does not contradict it.

Evidence wins cross-border divorces. Build from day one a bilingual bundle: identity and immigration documents including Withdrawal Agreement residence cards, marriage certificate and any English deed or French marriage contract, children’s birth certificates and school records, employments contracts and dismissal letters, three years of French and English tax assessments, twelve months of all bank statements, loan and mortgage files, pension forecasts from both countries, property valuations, business accounts if self-employed, and a chronology of who lived where and when — because habitual residence and domicile turn on facts, not assertions. Lawfully obtained messages and bailiff-recorded facts help; secretly recorded calls, hacked accounts, and GPS trackers harm credibility and may be excluded. Keep a separate incident log for any threats or violence: French courts can issue protection orders — the ordonnance de protection — swiftly, and violence findings reshape residence, contact, and money.

Finally, mind the everyday legal life that divorce disrupts for a British resident: health cover registration, driving licence validity, bank mandates, insurance beneficiaries, and the will. Update the will and the beneficiary clauses the month divorce is filed, review life-insurance and pension nominations, revoke or refresh powers of attorney, and align the new address with the tax office, the health fund, and the residence-permit file so no summons or tax notice goes astray. These small steps prevent the classic post-divorce calamities: a hospital bill sent to the old address, a frozen joint account, or an ex-spouse inheriting through an outdated English will over French property.

Conclusion

A franco-British divorce after Brexit is winnable when taken in the right order: choose the forum deliberately before anyone files, prove habitual residence and domicile with documents rather than declarations, force the court to address applicable law under Article 309 with proper evidence of English law, value the French house and both countries’ pensions like a forensic accountant, claim the compensatory allowance with the December 2025 criteria, and put the children’s stability at the centre of every request. File in France when France is the centre of family life, coordinate from the first week with an English solicitor whenever assets, pensions, or parallel proceedings touch England, and diary every deadline and translation from day one. Above all, do not sign a private-deed divorce or an English consent order covering French property without cross-border checks: the cheapest signature is often the most expensive mistake. With the file built this way, the French family judge can give you a judgment that holds on both sides of the Channel — on the house, the pensions, and the children.

Need a quick opinion on your case?

For a telephone consultation within 48 hours with a lawyer of the firm, call +33 6 46 60 58 22 (Maître Reda Kohen). You can also reach us through our contact page. We assist British clients in Paris and across Île-de-France, as well as remotely throughout France.