You married in England, you built your life in France, and now the marriage is over. The first question British clients ask in our Paris office is always the same: do I divorce in England or in France, and will the other country accept the result? Since Brexit, the answer has become strictly two-track. An English divorce application follows English domestic rules on the English side, while recognition and the French house, money and pension follow French rules on the French side. There is no longer an automatic European passport for your English conditional order or final order. If you live in France, own a flat or house here, hold an English pension, or need a French civil status record updated, you must plan both tracks from day one, keep sealed paperwork, arrange certified translations early, and know exactly how to challenge a refusal, whether it comes from a French court registry, a notaire (a French public officer who authenticates family and property deeds), or the civil status office.

This guide speaks to British nationals living in France, to couples where one spouse is British, and to former French residents now back in Britain with loose ends in France. It explains every French term at first use. It walks you through where to file, which French court hears the case, which form of divorce fits your situation, how to get an English order recognised through exequatur (the French court procedure that gives an enforceable stamp to a foreign judgment), how the French house and the compensatory allowance are sorted out, and what to do when an office says no. It closes with a practical checklist and a route to a paid first telephone consultation with the firm.

I. Where to divorce when you are British and live in France after Brexit

Choosing the forum is the decision that shapes everything else: speed, cost, language, the shape of the financial orders, and the later recognition work. Many British spouses assume the English court is always available because they married there or hold a British passport. Others assume the French court is compulsory because they live here. Neither assumption is correct. Since the United Kingdom left the European Union, the Brussels II bis and Brussels II ter regulations on matrimonial jurisdiction and automatic recognition no longer operate between London and Paris. Each side applies its own rules, and you can face parallel cases if both spouses file in different countries. The spouse who files first in the better forum, with complete paperwork, usually keeps a lasting advantage.

A. Can I still get divorced in England while I live in France, and what paperwork does London expect?

Yes, in many cases you can still petition in England and Wales even though you live in France, but you must satisfy English domestic jurisdictional tests based on domicile or habitual residence, not the old European shortcuts. The English online portal remains the normal starting point for undefended cases. The official guidance states, word for word: To apply for a divorce you will need: including yours and your husband or wife’s full name and address and your original marriage certificate or a certified copy, as explained on the official English application page Get a divorce: how to apply, GOV.UK. In practice you will also need proof of the jurisdictional link, a statement that the marriage has broken down irretrievably, details of any children, and the court fee or fee remission evidence. If your papers are incomplete or your address for service in France is vague, the English court will pause the case and ask for more, which costs weeks.

Three practical points matter most for British applicants living in France. First, the English process now runs in two judicial stages, the conditional order and then the final order, with built-in waiting periods between application, conditional order and final order. Do not treat the conditional order as the divorce. French offices, banks, notaires and the land registry will only act on the final order, sealed by the English court, showing that the marriage is legally ended. Keep the sealed final order safe and order extra sealed copies at once, because every French step later will ask for one. Second, service on a spouse living in France must be proved properly. Personal service, acknowledgement of service, or an order for deemed or substituted service all work, but a French spouse who claims never to have received the papers can later attack recognition in France on fairness grounds. Use a traceable method, keep the bailiff or process server statement, and file the acknowledgement promptly. Third, think about money now, not later. An English court can make financial remedy orders, including a pension sharing order against an English pension, a lump sum, ongoing maintenance, and a property adjustment order. Those orders are powerful in England but they still need French recognition before a French notaire or bank will execute them against a French house or French account. If the only valuable asset is the French home, filing in France sometimes saves a whole second round of proceedings.

Consider a common example. Sarah and James married in Manchester in 2012, moved to Lyon in 2018, and separated in 2025. Sarah stayed in Lyon with the children, James returned to Leeds. Sarah can often petition in England if she retains domicile there or meets the residence link, and James can petition in France because the family home and the children are in Lyon. If both file, two cases run in parallel under different rules. The English judge will not automatically stay the English case in favour of the French one, and the French judge will not automatically defer to London. That is why the first filed, well prepared case usually sets the tone. A spouse who wants the English financial remedy toolkit, especially pension sharing against a large English defined benefit pension, often prefers London. A spouse who needs urgent orders about the Lyon flat, the children living in France, or a French bank account often prefers the French juge aux affaires familiales (the specialist family judge inside the tribunal judiciaire, the main civil court). Take advice before you file, compare the likely outcome on the house and pension in each forum, and then commit to one forum rather than drifting between the two.

Language and evidence deserve attention. The English court works in English and expects English documents or certified translations of French marriage certificates, French property deeds and French payslips. The French court works in French and will expect a certified French translation of every English order by a traducteur assermenté (a sworn translator listed by a French appeal court). Budget for translations now. A cheap uncertified translation will be rejected by a French registry or notaire and will force you to pay twice. Likewise, gather twelve months of bank statements, mortgage statements, pension statements from both countries, tax notices, and proof of who paid what towards the French home. Judges on both sides decide money on documents, not on recollections.

If your situation involves domestic abuse, urgency, or a child at risk of removal to England, do not wait for the other spouse to file. Both countries offer protective and interim orders, and the French family judge can act quickly on residence of the children, exclusive use of the home, and interim maintenance while the divorce itself moves more slowly. Tell your lawyer at the first meeting about any risk, any recent travel with the children, and any police involvement, because jurisdiction over children and protective steps follows its own logic and rewards the parent who acts promptly and transparently.

B. Which French court hears my divorce, which form of divorce fits, and what does the Civil Code actually say?

If you file in France, your case goes to the juge aux affaires familiales, usually at the tribunal judiciaire. Territorial jurisdiction follows the family, not nationality. Article 1070 of the Code of Civil Procedure states, word for word: Le juge aux affaires familiales territorialement compétent est : – le juge du lieu où se trouve la résidence de la famille ; with further paragraphs allocating the case when parents live apart, by reference to where the minor children habitually live, or where the spouse who did not start the case lives, and allowing joint applicants to choose between their two residences. In plain terms, if the family home is in Bordeaux and the children go to school there, Bordeaux will normally hear the case even if both spouses are British and married in England. If you have already left France while your spouse and children remain here, expect to litigate here for the French issues. File in the wrong court and you will lose months to a transfer.

French law offers four judicial divorce grounds plus the out-of-court divorce by mutual consent. Article 229 of the Civil Code provides, word for word: Les époux peuvent consentir mutuellement à leur divorce par acte sous signature privée contresigné par avocats, déposé au rang des minutes d’un notaire. That sentence describes the divorce par consentement mutuel par acte sous signature privée contresigné par avocats, often called the divorce without a judge, where each spouse has a lawyer, they sign a full agreement on children, house, money and pension rights, observe a cooling-off period, then the notaire registers the deed. The same article continues by listing the judicial routes: divorce by mutual consent in the specific court case it preserves, divorce by acceptance of the principle of the breakdown, divorce for definitive alteration of the conjugal bond, and divorce for fault. For British couples who agree on everything, the lawyer-led deed is usually the fastest and cheapest path, and it avoids a contested hearing. It produces a binding private deed with the enforceable formula once registered, which banks and land registries understand well.

The lawyer-led deed is not available to everyone. Article 229-2 of the Civil Code states, word for word: Les époux ne peuvent consentir mutuellement à leur divorce par acte sous signature privée contresigné par avocats lorsque : 1° Le mineur, informé par ses parents de son droit à être entendu par le juge dans les conditions prévues à l’article 388-1 , demande son audition par le juge ; and the same article also excludes cases where a spouse is under a formal protection regime such as guardianship. In those situations you must go before the judge even if you agree. British parents sometimes overlook the child hearing point. If your teenager learns of the right to be heard and asks to see the judge, the private deed route closes and the court route opens. Ask your children carefully through your lawyer, follow the information duty, and do not push a private deed when a hearing request is likely.

When spouses disagree, the French judge picks the ground that fits the evidence. Acceptance of the breakdown suits couples who agree the marriage is over but disagree on money or children. Definitive alteration suits long separations, typically where life together ended well over a year before filing and shows no realistic prospect of resuming. Fault suits cases with proven misconduct such as violence, adultery with consequences, or sustained abandonment, but it demands solid proof and usually increases cost and bitterness without changing the financial outcome dramatically. Many British clients arrive convinced that proving fault will unlock a bigger payout. French law compensates disparity in living conditions through the compensatory allowance, not through punishment for behaviour, so choose the ground that gets you divorced cleanly and focus your evidential energy on the finances.

A French divorce petition needs structure from the start. Your lawyer will file or serve the introductory act, propose interim measures on the home, children, maintenance and disclosure, and push for a full financial picture. The French judge expects French tax notices (avis d’imposition), pay slips, employment contracts, mortgage offers and statements, pension rights statements (relevé de situation individuelle for French rights plus English pension statements), and bank records. If your spouse holds accounts or pensions in England and refuses disclosure, say so early. The French court has tools to draw adverse inferences, order disclosure, and appoint a notaire to value and propose division of the property, but it needs a clear request and supporting material. Vague claims about a hidden English pension without a provider name, approximate value or policy number rarely move the needle. Names, numbers and statements do.

II. Will France recognise my English divorce, sort out the French house, and fix money and pension fairly?

This is where Brexit bites hardest. Before the end of the transition period, an English matrimonial judgment circulated in France under European regulations with a certificate and minimal checks. That era is over. Your English final order is now a judgment from a non-EU state. It exists as a fact, it can prove you are divorced in England, but French land registries, notaires, banks and civil status offices will ask for a French enforceability stamp before they transfer a French house, release funds, or rewrite a French property record. The stamp is called exequatur. Without it, you can be divorced in Leeds yet still recorded as married in Nantes, still co-owner on the French title, and still blocked at the bank counter. The good news is that French law grants exequatur generously when the file is clean, and refusals can be challenged.

A. How do I get exequatur for an English divorce in France, update civil status, and challenge a refusal?

Start from the core principle. Article 509 of the Code of Civil Procedure states, word for word: Les jugements rendus par les tribunaux étrangers et les actes reçus par les officiers étrangers sont exécutoires sur le territoire de la République de la manière et dans les cas prévus par la loi. For an English divorce today, the way provided by law is the ordinary exequatur application before the tribunal judiciaire. The official public service page summarises the position bluntly, word for word: Une décision de justice rendue hors de l’Union européenne ne s’applique pas directement en France. It adds, word for word, that Cette procédure permet de demander au juge français de donner force exécutoire à la décision étrangère. See the full official guidance on enforcement of a foreign civil judgment in France, service-public.fr. The judge does not rewrite the English decision. The judge checks that it can live in the French legal order.

The same official page lists exactly three cumulative conditions for a non-EU judgment. The French judge grants exequatur only if the foreign authority was competent, the judgment is not contrary to French international public policy, and the applicant did not shop for a foreign court in order to evade French law by fraud. Competence here means indirect competence: did the English court have a legitimate link such as domicile, habitual residence or submission, and was the defendant properly able to defend the case. Public policy means the core French values on defence rights, due process, equality and protection of children, not every detail of French divorce procedure. Fraud means a manufactured link to England designed to dodge French mandatory rules. A genuine English divorce between British spouses who lived, worked and filed properly in England passes these tests routinely. A divorce obtained without telling the other spouse, or based on a sham address, will struggle.

Procedure matters as much as substance. You must instruct a French avocat (a lawyer admitted to a French bar). The same official page confirms, in short imperative terms, that representation by a lawyer is compulsory. You seize the tribunal judiciaire by assignation (a formal summons served by a commissaire de justice, formerly called a huissier) or, where both former spouses cooperate, by joint application. The territorially competent court is normally where the defendant lives if that address is known, otherwise where the applicant lives or a court of the applicant’s choice when the defendant lives abroad, with refinements for property-based cases. Attach the sealed English conditional order and final order, a sworn French translation, proof that the orders are final and no longer appealable, proof of proper service and of respect for defence rights, the English marriage certificate and French family booklet (livret de famille) if one was issued, and any English financial remedy order you want declared enforceable. Ask expressly for each head of the English order you need enforced in France: divorce itself, property transfer, lump sum, maintenance, pension sharing language, and costs. A vague request for general recognition invites a vague or partial judgment that the notaire cannot use.

Recent case law confirms that French courts must examine regularity carefully but cannot refuse recognition on bad grounds such as mere prior filing in France. In a widely noted 2026 family recognition ruling, the First Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation held, in its summary, word for word, that Une juridiction française fût-elle première saisie, l’autorité de la chose jugée de la décision de divorce prononcée par un juge marocain doit être reconnue en France dès lors que cette décision remplit les conditions de régularité internationale subject to the applicable convention conditions, censuring an appeal court that had treated prior French filing alone as a bar. See Court of Cassation, First Civil Chamber, 25 March 2026, appeal No 24-13.011, published in the Bulletin. The case concerned Moroccan-French conventions, not England, so its convention passages do not transfer directly to a British file. Its method does transfer: checklists first, real regularity conditions second, procedural pretexts last. Cite it to remind a reluctant opponent that being first to file in France does not by itself kill a proper foreign divorce. For England, where no bilateral divorce convention replicates the Franco-Moroccan treaty network, the ordinary three-condition test described above remains the gateway, documented through the certification and exequatur provisions of Article 509-1 of the Code of Civil Procedure and the service-public guidance.

Once exequatur is granted, finish the administrative tail the same week. Send the enforceable judgment to the French civil status office that holds your marriage record or to the central service in Nantes for marriages celebrated abroad, with a sworn translation and a request to annotate the record (mention en marge) and update the livret de famille. Contact the notaire holding the French property file with the enforceable order and identity documents so the land record (publicité foncière) can be aligned. Notify French banks, insurers and pension bodies holding the financial products named in the order. Each office has its own form, and each will keep a copy of the sealed order, so bring spares. If an office refuses to update without a French judgment, do not argue at the counter. Ask for the refusal in writing, note the exact legal ground invoked, and send it to your lawyer the same day.

Refusals can be challenged at several levels. If the tribunal judiciaire dismisses the exequatur application, appeal lies to the cour d’appel and then, on points of law, to the Court of Cassation. If a registry or civil status office blocks transcription, your lawyer can file a targeted application to the president of the tribunal judiciaire, seek an order to annotate, and appeal if needed. If a notaire declines to act on an English pension sharing order because the French plan cannot technically receive it, ask for a reasoned written position, then return to the family judge for a conversion or compensation mechanism under French law, such as a capitalised compensatory allowance instead of a direct split. Deadlines run fast in France, often one month for appeals in contentious matters once served, so diary every service date and never let a refusal letter sit unanswered. A calm, documented challenge that supplies the missing translation, the missing proof of finality, or the missing service certificate resolves most blocks without a full appeal.

B. Who keeps the French house, how is the compensatory allowance fixed, and what happens to pensions and maintenance?

Money and property are where cross-Channel divorces are won or lost. English financial remedy orders and French economic consequences of divorce speak different languages. England talks in needs, sharing and compensation, with tools such as lump sums, ongoing spousal maintenance, property adjustment and pension sharing or attachment. France talks in liquidation of the matrimonial property regime plus, separately, a prestation compensatoire (a lump-sum payment designed to offset the disparity in living standards created by the divorce). A British reader should treat these as two layers. Layer one divides what the couple already owns under the applicable matrimonial regime. Layer two compensates future disparity through the allowance. An English order that mixes both layers must be translated functionally for the French notaire, bank or land registry, or it will stall.

Start with the house. If you bought in France during the marriage, the matrimonial regime decides who owns what share, while French land law decides how transfer happens. Many British couples married in England without a contract and later moved to France. Their regime may be English separation of property by default, a French community regime by change of circumstances, or a chosen regime by notarised contract. That classification is fact-sensitive and often needs a dedicated opinion. Do not assume the English decree saying the house goes to one spouse automatically rewrites the French title. The French notaire will liquidate the regime, calculate each spouse’s rights, deduct mortgage balances, account for personal funds (fonds propres) reinvested, charge occupation compensation (indemnité d’occupation) where one spouse stayed alone in the jointly owned home, and then draw the transfer deed (acte de partage or acte de licitation) for registration. If your English order simply says transfer the Dordogne house to the wife, the notaire will still need the enforceable French exequatur, valuations, mortgage redemption figures, and proof of payment of any equalisation sum (soulte). Commission a valuation from a local agent plus a formal expert figure if the gap is large, agree who pays the mortgage and insurance until sale or transfer, and fix a clear timetable with a price reduction mechanism if the property does not sell. Houses that sit unsold for a year because the order lacked a sale mechanism are depressingly common.

Next, the compensatory allowance. Article 270 of the Civil Code opens with the principle, word for word: Le divorce met fin au devoir de secours entre époux. It then authorises a payment to offset disparity and adds, word for word: Cette prestation a un caractère forfaitaire. In practice that means a fixed capital sum set by the judge, normally paid at once or in scheduled instalments with security, not an open-ended American-style alimony. Article 271 of the Civil Code directs the method, word for word: 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 article then lists the factors the judge must weigh, including duration of the marriage, age and health, professional qualifications and situation, career sacrifices for children or for the other spouse’s career, estimated or foreseeable capital and income after liquidation, existing and foreseeable rights, and respective pension positions including estimated loss of retirement rights caused by family choices. For a British couple, that last factor often decides the figure: a spouse who paused work for ten years in France to raise children while the other built an English final salary pension will show a measurable retirement gap that the allowance must narrow.

Pensions need separate handling because English and French retirement systems do not mirror each other. An English pension sharing order that carves a percentage of an English scheme for the ex-spouse works well inside the English scheme but has no direct equivalent inside a French compulsory scheme. French judges therefore often reflect the English pension gap inside the prestation compensatoire capital rather than ordering a French pension split that no French body can execute. Bring English cash equivalent transfer values, the scheme booklet pages on sharing, and evidence of what the sharing order would cost to implement. If you already hold an English sharing order and now live in France, ask your French lawyer whether to seek exequatur of that order for use against English assets, while asking the French judge to adjust the capital allowance for the French side. Trying to force an English percentage split onto French trimestres (the quarterly contribution periods that build French pension rights) or points (the units that build supplementary pension rights) without conversion is a classic route to a refusal from the pension body.

Child maintenance and spousal maintenance during the proceedings also need clear orders. French judges fix a contribution à l’entretien et à l’éducation des enfants (the monthly contribution for upkeep and education) by reference to each parent’s resources, the children’s needs, and residence arrangements, often with indexation and allocation of school, health and activity costs on top. Interim spousal support during the case takes the form of a pension alimentaire au titre du devoir de secours while the marriage still produces effects, which then ends at divorce and is replaced, where justified, by the capital allowance. Keep paying what the current order says until a new order replaces it, even if you think the amount is wrong. Stopping payment unilaterally creates arrears that French enforcement bodies recover efficiently through wage attachment, bank seizure or direct payment procedures, and it damages credibility on the bigger financial fight. If circumstances change, apply to vary quickly with fresh documents rather than self-help.

Tax and practicalities close the loop. French tax treatment of the allowance depends on its form and timing: capital paid within twelve months of the judgment, capital paid over longer, and rent-style payments do not share the same tax outcome, and English tax treatment of receipts from a French order follows English rules on the English side. Do not rely on internet summaries for the figures. Ask your French accountant for the current return lines based on the exact payment schedule in your judgment, and keep the judgment, proof of payment dates, and bank traces together. On costs, French courts can order one spouse to contribute to the other’s legal fees (frais irrépétibles) but rarely cover the full bill. Budget realistically: sworn translations, valuations, notaire fees on transfer, land registration tax, mortgage early repayment charges, and pension implementation charges all sit on top of lawyer fees. An order that gives you the house but leaves you unable to pay the soulte, the mortgage and the registration bill within the deadline is a trap. Model the cash flow before you agree.

Conclusion

Divorcing across the Channel after Brexit is manageable when you treat England and France as two linked but separate tracks. File in the forum that best protects your priorities, using complete English paperwork with sealed orders and traceable service if you choose London, or a well-targeted French petition before the correct juge aux affaires familiales if the children, the home or urgent protection point to France. Then secure French recognition without delay: instruct a French avocat, seek exequatur of the English final order and each financial head you need enforced, and chase transcription on the civil status record and alignment at the land registry the same week. Sort the French house through a notaire-led liquidation with valuations and mortgage figures, quantify the prestation compensatoire with documents on needs, resources and pension loss, and keep maintenance paid until a judge changes it. Whenever an office says no, get the reason in writing, calendar the appeal deadline, and challenge through the proper route rather than re-submitting the same incomplete file.

If you recognise your own situation in these pages, gather your English marriage certificate, any English petition or conditional and final orders, your French tax notices, mortgage and pension statements, and any refusal letters, then seek tailored advice before the next deadline. Every week counts once two courts and two sets of registries are involved, and early choices on forum, valuation and pension evidence are hard to unwind later.

Need a quick opinion on your case

Our Paris office advises British nationals and cross-Channel couples on divorce strategy, recognition of English orders, property and pension consequences in France, and challenges to refusals. First telephone consultation: 80 EUR including VAT, within 48 hours with a solicitor of the firm. Call +33 6 46 60 58 22 or write via our contact page. If your matter is in Paris or the Île-de-France region, tell us at once so we can direct you to the court with jurisdiction and the documents the local registry will expect.