FAMILY LAW
Uncontested divorce in Cologne: dividing the assets cleanly
Where you agree, this is not about a fight but about a division that still holds in five years. That the marriage should end is often clear; that says nothing about accrued gains, pension provision and the property. I am Dr Hanna Schmidt, attorney at law at DR. SCHMIDT LEGAL in Cologne, and I put those points into a form that holds.
Uncontested divorce: what the statute requires
The term does not appear in the statute. What is meant is the case where both want the divorce. After a year of separation the breakdown of the marriage is irrebuttably presumed where both spouses petition for divorce or the respondent consents (section 1566(1) German Civil Code). The breakdown is then no longer up for discussion.
Representation before the family court is mandatory (section 114(1) FamFG). It does not apply to consenting to the divorce (section 114(4) no. 3). One spouse instructs a lawyer and files the petition, the other consents. It does mean, however, that one side shapes the petition and the other merely declares their consent.
Agreeing on the divorce is not agreeing on the assets
The pension rights adjustment runs automatically
The pension entitlements acquired during the marriage are divided on divorce without anyone applying for it. Only where the marriage was a short one of up to three years does the adjustment take place solely on a spouse's application (section 3(3) Pension Rights Adjustment Act). In order to carry out the pension rights adjustment, the court obtains information from every pension provider.
Anyone wanting to arrange the adjustment differently can agree that (section 6(1)). Such an agreement has to withstand a review of its content and its exercise (section 8(1)) and requires notarial recording if concluded before the decision on the adjustment becomes final (section 7(1)).
The equalisation of accrued gains does not run automatically
The equalisation of accrued gains is not decided automatically. It is a claim one side has to assert: where one spouse's gain exceeds the other's, the other is entitled to half the surplus as an equalisation claim (section 1378(1) German Civil Code).
The point at which the divorce petition becomes pending is decisive for the calculation (section 1384). The date of service is a figure in the calculation, not a formality. Anyone who only has the petition filed gets a divorce order and a divided pension entitlement. What happens to the savings, the life insurance, the securities portfolio, the shareholding and the debts is not in it.
The property is not part of the divorce proceedings
The house is not divided. The equalisation of accrued gains is a claim for money, not a claim to a particular asset. Who ends up owning the property, who stays on the loan agreement and who pays out whom and when is decided by nobody in the divorce order.
A contract by which someone undertakes to transfer ownership of land requires notarial recording (section 311b(1) German Civil Code), and the bank is not bound by any arrangement between spouses. Further details can be found under “Property in divorce”.
Maintenance: wide scope, hard limits
About maintenance after the divorce you may agree almost anything, up to and including a waiver. The agreement requires notarial recording if made before the divorce becomes final (section 1585c German Civil Code).
With separation maintenance the scope ends: it cannot effectively be waived for the future (sections 1361(4) sentence 4, 1360a(3) and 1614(1)). And child maintenance belongs to the child, not to the parents. A waiver by the parents at the child's expense is void (section 1614(1)).
The divorce settlement agreement is the tool of an uncontested divorce
Whatever is to be settled by agreement belongs in a document before the petition is served. There is no single formal requirement but several: the property regime (section 1410 German Civil Code), the equalisation of accrued gains during pending proceedings (section 1378(3) sentence 2), post-divorce maintenance before the divorce becomes final (section 1585c), the pension rights adjustment (section 7(1) Pension Rights Adjustment Act), the transfer of land (section 311b(1)).
That is why the whole package is notarially recorded. One point is missing from drafts particularly often. A notarial deed is an enforceable title only to the extent that the debtor has submitted in it to immediate enforcement in respect of the specified claim (section 794(1) no. 5 Code of Civil Procedure). Without that submission you have a valid promise and still no enforceable title.
One lawyer cannot represent both spouses
That is the sentence that saves the most trouble in uncontested divorces. In a set of proceedings I represent one side and may neither advise the other nor look after their interests, not even where both feel they agree and want the same solution. The consenting spouse learns from nobody whether the division disadvantages them.
Where a division of assets involves property, pension provision or a shareholding, a second legal opinion is therefore not hostility but what makes the agreement hold later. The divorce stays uncontested all the same.
Where it gets expensive even when you agree
01
Filing the petition before the assets have been recorded
Service of the petition fixes the cut-off date for final assets (section 1384 German Civil Code). The accrued gains are then calculated on figures nobody has checked.
02
Leaving the agreement oral
“We agree” holds until the first incident, usually a new partner or a change of job. What was discussed amicably then has to be enforced acrimoniously, and without a document the negotiation starts again from the beginning.
03
Treating the pension rights adjustment as a formality
It runs automatically and is still underestimated, because it only pays out decades later. Anyone who excludes it without a calculation regularly gives away the single largest item in the whole division.
04
Consenting without knowing your own figures
Consent to the divorce needs no lawyer (section 114(4) no. 3 FamFG), and so it is often given without any examination. The consenting spouse only learns after the divorce becomes final that claims existed.
05
Forgetting enforceability
A document without a submission to enforcement is not an enforceable title (section 794(1) no. 5 Code of Civil Procedure). If the other side does not pay the agreed sum, you first have to sue for payment, even though the claim is undisputed.
How I proceed
01
The figures first
It starts with recording both sides' assets as at the date of separation and today, with documents: accounts, securities portfolios, life and pension policies, the property with the outstanding loan, shareholdings. In parallel the information on pension entitlements is obtained.
02
Working through the options
On that basis I work through the options and tell you what you are entitled to and what a proposed solution means by comparison. In complex cases, for instance where company shares or property form part of the accrued gains, this is done with the help of appropriate experts from my network.
03
Then the agreement
Only then is there a negotiation, and the result culminates in a divorce settlement agreement, notarially recorded and with a submission to immediate enforcement wherever money flows.
04
The petition last
The divorce petition comes last. How the proceedings themselves run, from the year of separation to the final order, is set out on the page about the course of a divorce.
A typical situation
01
Neither of them wants a fight
Both are in their mid-forties. She reduced to part-time, he stayed in full-time work. According to the land register the terraced house is owned in equal shares. Two figures come first: the pension rights adjustment and the accrued gains. It frequently turns out that the part-time years weigh more heavily than the house.
Uncontested divorce in Cologne: office and jurisdiction
My office is at Jakordenstrasse 8 in 50668 Cologne, in the Innenstadt-Nord district, close to the main station. For family matters in Cologne the family court at the Cologne Local Court decides, with appeals going to the Cologne Higher Regional Court. Which court has local jurisdiction follows statutory rules and not simply where you live, which is why I clarify it before any petition.
I offer appointments Monday to Thursday until 7 pm and Fridays until 5 pm, and later by arrangement. By video or phone on request. Clients come from Cologne and the surrounding area, from Bergisch Gladbach, Leverkusen, Bruehl, Huerth, Frechen, Pulheim and Langenfeld, and in part from even further afield. I can represent you throughout Germany, wherever the court happens to sit.
YOUR QUESTIONS
Frequently asked questions
The term describes no separate type of proceedings but the situation in which both want the divorce. After a year of separation the breakdown of the marriage is irrebuttably presumed where both petition for divorce or the respondent consents (section 1566(1) German Civil Code). What the label does not say: that the consequences are settled. Accrued gains, the property and maintenance stay open until someone settles them.
Not for the proceedings. Representation before the family court is mandatory (section 114(1) FamFG), but not for consenting to the divorce (section 114(4) no. 3). I represent only one side and may not advise the other. Where property, pension provision or a shareholding is involved, a second legal opinion therefore makes sense, and it does not turn the divorce into a contested one.
No. Only the pension rights adjustment runs automatically. Where the marriage lasted up to three years, even that only happens on application (section 3(3) Pension Rights Adjustment Act). The equalisation of accrued gains is a claim a spouse has to assert. The point at which the divorce petition becomes pending is decisive for the calculation (section 1384 German Civil Code).
That is determined by the pension rights adjustment, because information has to be obtained from every pension provider. Where both spouses agree and no other ancillary matters arise, there are usually a few months between the petition and the hearing. What can mainly be accelerated is your own cooperation: complete documents, promptly completed questionnaires, no late additions. Settling the consequences in an agreement beforehand keeps the proceedings short.
Four blocks, and none of them settles itself: the equalisation of accrued gains; the property, with a buy-out or a sale; maintenance within the limits of sections 1585c and 1614(1) German Civil Code; and the pension rights adjustment, if you want to arrange it differently (section 6(1) Pension Rights Adjustment Act). The result is notarially recorded and contains, for every payment, a submission to immediate enforcement (section 794(1) no. 5 Code of Civil Procedure).
I bill by time, at an hourly rate of 280 euros plus 19% VAT. The statutory fees under the German Lawyers' Fees Act (RVG) form the minimum. The work lies not in the proceedings but in the division of assets beforehand. Billing through legal expenses insurance is possible. As a rule the insurer only pays the statutory fees; you bear the difference to the hourly fee.
Divorce by agreement, without leaving loose ends
Bring what you have: details of both sides' assets, documents on the property, evidence of pension entitlements. In the initial consultation we clarify what has to be settled in your case, in what order, and when it makes sense to file the petition.
FAMILY LAW
Uncontested divorce in Cologne: dividing the assets cleanly
Where you agree, this is not about a fight but about a division that still holds in five years. That the marriage should end is often clear; that says nothing about accrued gains, pension provision and the property. I am Dr Hanna Schmidt, attorney at law at DR. SCHMIDT LEGAL in Cologne, and I put those points into a form that holds.
Uncontested divorce: what the statute requires
The term does not appear in the statute. What is meant is the case where both want the divorce. After a year of separation the breakdown of the marriage is irrebuttably presumed where both spouses petition for divorce or the respondent consents (section 1566(1) German Civil Code). The breakdown is then no longer up for discussion.
Representation before the family court is mandatory (section 114(1) FamFG). It does not apply to consenting to the divorce (section 114(4) no. 3). One spouse instructs a lawyer and files the petition, the other consents. It does mean, however, that one side shapes the petition and the other merely declares their consent.
Agreeing on the divorce is not agreeing on the assets
The pension rights adjustment runs automatically
The pension entitlements acquired during the marriage are divided on divorce without anyone applying for it. Only where the marriage was a short one of up to three years does the adjustment take place solely on a spouse's application (section 3(3) Pension Rights Adjustment Act). In order to carry out the pension rights adjustment, the court obtains information from every pension provider.
Anyone wanting to arrange the adjustment differently can agree that (section 6(1)). Such an agreement has to withstand a review of its content and its exercise (section 8(1)) and requires notarial recording if concluded before the decision on the adjustment becomes final (section 7(1)).
The equalisation of accrued gains does not run automatically
The equalisation of accrued gains is not decided automatically. It is a claim one side has to assert: where one spouse's gain exceeds the other's, the other is entitled to half the surplus as an equalisation claim (section 1378(1) German Civil Code).
The point at which the divorce petition becomes pending is decisive for the calculation (section 1384). The date of service is a figure in the calculation, not a formality. Anyone who only has the petition filed gets a divorce order and a divided pension entitlement. What happens to the savings, the life insurance, the securities portfolio, the shareholding and the debts is not in it.
The property is not part of the divorce proceedings
The house is not divided. The equalisation of accrued gains is a claim for money, not a claim to a particular asset. Who ends up owning the property, who stays on the loan agreement and who pays out whom and when is decided by nobody in the divorce order.
A contract by which someone undertakes to transfer ownership of land requires notarial recording (section 311b(1) German Civil Code), and the bank is not bound by any arrangement between spouses. Further details can be found under “Property in divorce”.
Maintenance: wide scope, hard limits
About maintenance after the divorce you may agree almost anything, up to and including a waiver. The agreement requires notarial recording if made before the divorce becomes final (section 1585c German Civil Code).
With separation maintenance the scope ends: it cannot effectively be waived for the future (sections 1361(4) sentence 4, 1360a(3) and 1614(1)). And child maintenance belongs to the child, not to the parents. A waiver by the parents at the child's expense is void (section 1614(1)).
The divorce settlement agreement is the tool of an uncontested divorce
Whatever is to be settled by agreement belongs in a document before the petition is served. There is no single formal requirement but several: the property regime (section 1410 German Civil Code), the equalisation of accrued gains during pending proceedings (section 1378(3) sentence 2), post-divorce maintenance before the divorce becomes final (section 1585c), the pension rights adjustment (section 7(1) Pension Rights Adjustment Act), the transfer of land (section 311b(1)).
That is why the whole package is notarially recorded. One point is missing from drafts particularly often. A notarial deed is an enforceable title only to the extent that the debtor has submitted in it to immediate enforcement in respect of the specified claim (section 794(1) no. 5 Code of Civil Procedure). Without that submission you have a valid promise and still no enforceable title.
One lawyer cannot represent both spouses
That is the sentence that saves the most trouble in uncontested divorces. In a set of proceedings I represent one side and may neither advise the other nor look after their interests, not even where both feel they agree and want the same solution. The consenting spouse learns from nobody whether the division disadvantages them.
Where a division of assets involves property, pension provision or a shareholding, a second legal opinion is therefore not hostility but what makes the agreement hold later. The divorce stays uncontested all the same.
Where it gets expensive even when you agree
01
Filing the petition before the assets have been recorded
Service of the petition fixes the cut-off date for final assets (section 1384 German Civil Code). The accrued gains are then calculated on figures nobody has checked.
02
Leaving the agreement oral
“We agree” holds until the first incident, usually a new partner or a change of job. What was discussed amicably then has to be enforced acrimoniously, and without a document the negotiation starts again from the beginning.
03
Treating the pension rights adjustment as a formality
It runs automatically and is still underestimated, because it only pays out decades later. Anyone who excludes it without a calculation regularly gives away the single largest item in the whole division.
04
Consenting without knowing your own figures
Consent to the divorce needs no lawyer (section 114(4) no. 3 FamFG), and so it is often given without any examination. The consenting spouse only learns after the divorce becomes final that claims existed.
05
Forgetting enforceability
A document without a submission to enforcement is not an enforceable title (section 794(1) no. 5 Code of Civil Procedure). If the other side does not pay the agreed sum, you first have to sue for payment, even though the claim is undisputed.
How I proceed
01
The figures first
It starts with recording both sides' assets as at the date of separation and today, with documents: accounts, securities portfolios, life and pension policies, the property with the outstanding loan, shareholdings. In parallel the information on pension entitlements is obtained.
02
Working through the options
On that basis I work through the options and tell you what you are entitled to and what a proposed solution means by comparison. In complex cases, for instance where company shares or property form part of the accrued gains, this is done with the help of appropriate experts from my network.
03
Then the agreement
Only then is there a negotiation, and the result culminates in a divorce settlement agreement, notarially recorded and with a submission to immediate enforcement wherever money flows.
04
The petition last
The divorce petition comes last. How the proceedings themselves run, from the year of separation to the final order, is set out on the page about the course of a divorce.
A typical situation
01
Neither of them wants a fight
Both are in their mid-forties. She reduced to part-time, he stayed in full-time work. According to the land register the terraced house is owned in equal shares. Two figures come first: the pension rights adjustment and the accrued gains. It frequently turns out that the part-time years weigh more heavily than the house.
Uncontested divorce in Cologne: office and jurisdiction
My office is at Jakordenstrasse 8 in 50668 Cologne, in the Innenstadt-Nord district, close to the main station. For family matters in Cologne the family court at the Cologne Local Court decides, with appeals going to the Cologne Higher Regional Court. Which court has local jurisdiction follows statutory rules and not simply where you live, which is why I clarify it before any petition.
I offer appointments Monday to Thursday until 7 pm and Fridays until 5 pm, and later by arrangement. By video or phone on request. Clients come from Cologne and the surrounding area, from Bergisch Gladbach, Leverkusen, Bruehl, Huerth, Frechen, Pulheim and Langenfeld, and in part from even further afield. I can represent you throughout Germany, wherever the court happens to sit.
YOUR QUESTIONS
Frequently asked questions
The term describes no separate type of proceedings but the situation in which both want the divorce. After a year of separation the breakdown of the marriage is irrebuttably presumed where both petition for divorce or the respondent consents (section 1566(1) German Civil Code). What the label does not say: that the consequences are settled. Accrued gains, the property and maintenance stay open until someone settles them.
Not for the proceedings. Representation before the family court is mandatory (section 114(1) FamFG), but not for consenting to the divorce (section 114(4) no. 3). I represent only one side and may not advise the other. Where property, pension provision or a shareholding is involved, a second legal opinion therefore makes sense, and it does not turn the divorce into a contested one.
No. Only the pension rights adjustment runs automatically. Where the marriage lasted up to three years, even that only happens on application (section 3(3) Pension Rights Adjustment Act). The equalisation of accrued gains is a claim a spouse has to assert. The point at which the divorce petition becomes pending is decisive for the calculation (section 1384 German Civil Code).
That is determined by the pension rights adjustment, because information has to be obtained from every pension provider. Where both spouses agree and no other ancillary matters arise, there are usually a few months between the petition and the hearing. What can mainly be accelerated is your own cooperation: complete documents, promptly completed questionnaires, no late additions. Settling the consequences in an agreement beforehand keeps the proceedings short.
Four blocks, and none of them settles itself: the equalisation of accrued gains; the property, with a buy-out or a sale; maintenance within the limits of sections 1585c and 1614(1) German Civil Code; and the pension rights adjustment, if you want to arrange it differently (section 6(1) Pension Rights Adjustment Act). The result is notarially recorded and contains, for every payment, a submission to immediate enforcement (section 794(1) no. 5 Code of Civil Procedure).
I bill by time, at an hourly rate of 280 euros plus 19% VAT. The statutory fees under the German Lawyers' Fees Act (RVG) form the minimum. The work lies not in the proceedings but in the division of assets beforehand. Billing through legal expenses insurance is possible. As a rule the insurer only pays the statutory fees; you bear the difference to the hourly fee.
Divorce by agreement, without leaving loose ends
Bring what you have: details of both sides' assets, documents on the property, evidence of pension entitlements. In the initial consultation we clarify what has to be settled in your case, in what order, and when it makes sense to file the petition.
FAMILY LAW
Uncontested divorce in Cologne: dividing the assets cleanly
Where you agree, this is not about a fight but about a division that still holds in five years. That the marriage should end is often clear; that says nothing about accrued gains, pension provision and the property. I am Dr Hanna Schmidt, attorney at law at DR. SCHMIDT LEGAL in Cologne, and I put those points into a form that holds.
Uncontested divorce: what the statute requires
The term does not appear in the statute. What is meant is the case where both want the divorce. After a year of separation the breakdown of the marriage is irrebuttably presumed where both spouses petition for divorce or the respondent consents (section 1566(1) German Civil Code). The breakdown is then no longer up for discussion.
Representation before the family court is mandatory (section 114(1) FamFG). It does not apply to consenting to the divorce (section 114(4) no. 3). One spouse instructs a lawyer and files the petition, the other consents. It does mean, however, that one side shapes the petition and the other merely declares their consent.
Agreeing on the divorce is not agreeing on the assets
The pension rights adjustment runs automatically
The pension entitlements acquired during the marriage are divided on divorce without anyone applying for it. Only where the marriage was a short one of up to three years does the adjustment take place solely on a spouse's application (section 3(3) Pension Rights Adjustment Act). In order to carry out the pension rights adjustment, the court obtains information from every pension provider.
Anyone wanting to arrange the adjustment differently can agree that (section 6(1)). Such an agreement has to withstand a review of its content and its exercise (section 8(1)) and requires notarial recording if concluded before the decision on the adjustment becomes final (section 7(1)).
The equalisation of accrued gains does not run automatically
The equalisation of accrued gains is not decided automatically. It is a claim one side has to assert: where one spouse's gain exceeds the other's, the other is entitled to half the surplus as an equalisation claim (section 1378(1) German Civil Code).
The point at which the divorce petition becomes pending is decisive for the calculation (section 1384). The date of service is a figure in the calculation, not a formality. Anyone who only has the petition filed gets a divorce order and a divided pension entitlement. What happens to the savings, the life insurance, the securities portfolio, the shareholding and the debts is not in it.
The property is not part of the divorce proceedings
The house is not divided. The equalisation of accrued gains is a claim for money, not a claim to a particular asset. Who ends up owning the property, who stays on the loan agreement and who pays out whom and when is decided by nobody in the divorce order.
A contract by which someone undertakes to transfer ownership of land requires notarial recording (section 311b(1) German Civil Code), and the bank is not bound by any arrangement between spouses. Further details can be found under “Property in divorce”.
Maintenance: wide scope, hard limits
About maintenance after the divorce you may agree almost anything, up to and including a waiver. The agreement requires notarial recording if made before the divorce becomes final (section 1585c German Civil Code).
With separation maintenance the scope ends: it cannot effectively be waived for the future (sections 1361(4) sentence 4, 1360a(3) and 1614(1)). And child maintenance belongs to the child, not to the parents. A waiver by the parents at the child's expense is void (section 1614(1)).
The divorce settlement agreement is the tool of an uncontested divorce
Whatever is to be settled by agreement belongs in a document before the petition is served. There is no single formal requirement but several: the property regime (section 1410 German Civil Code), the equalisation of accrued gains during pending proceedings (section 1378(3) sentence 2), post-divorce maintenance before the divorce becomes final (section 1585c), the pension rights adjustment (section 7(1) Pension Rights Adjustment Act), the transfer of land (section 311b(1)).
That is why the whole package is notarially recorded. One point is missing from drafts particularly often. A notarial deed is an enforceable title only to the extent that the debtor has submitted in it to immediate enforcement in respect of the specified claim (section 794(1) no. 5 Code of Civil Procedure). Without that submission you have a valid promise and still no enforceable title.
One lawyer cannot represent both spouses
That is the sentence that saves the most trouble in uncontested divorces. In a set of proceedings I represent one side and may neither advise the other nor look after their interests, not even where both feel they agree and want the same solution. The consenting spouse learns from nobody whether the division disadvantages them.
Where a division of assets involves property, pension provision or a shareholding, a second legal opinion is therefore not hostility but what makes the agreement hold later. The divorce stays uncontested all the same.
Where it gets expensive even when you agree
01
Filing the petition before the assets have been recorded
Service of the petition fixes the cut-off date for final assets (section 1384 German Civil Code). The accrued gains are then calculated on figures nobody has checked.
02
Leaving the agreement oral
“We agree” holds until the first incident, usually a new partner or a change of job. What was discussed amicably then has to be enforced acrimoniously, and without a document the negotiation starts again from the beginning.
03
Treating the pension rights adjustment as a formality
It runs automatically and is still underestimated, because it only pays out decades later. Anyone who excludes it without a calculation regularly gives away the single largest item in the whole division.
04
Consenting without knowing your own figures
Consent to the divorce needs no lawyer (section 114(4) no. 3 FamFG), and so it is often given without any examination. The consenting spouse only learns after the divorce becomes final that claims existed.
05
Forgetting enforceability
A document without a submission to enforcement is not an enforceable title (section 794(1) no. 5 Code of Civil Procedure). If the other side does not pay the agreed sum, you first have to sue for payment, even though the claim is undisputed.
How I proceed
01
The figures first
It starts with recording both sides' assets as at the date of separation and today, with documents: accounts, securities portfolios, life and pension policies, the property with the outstanding loan, shareholdings. In parallel the information on pension entitlements is obtained.
02
Working through the options
On that basis I work through the options and tell you what you are entitled to and what a proposed solution means by comparison. In complex cases, for instance where company shares or property form part of the accrued gains, this is done with the help of appropriate experts from my network.
03
Then the agreement
Only then is there a negotiation, and the result culminates in a divorce settlement agreement, notarially recorded and with a submission to immediate enforcement wherever money flows.
04
The petition last
The divorce petition comes last. How the proceedings themselves run, from the year of separation to the final order, is set out on the page about the course of a divorce.
A typical situation
01
Neither of them wants a fight
Both are in their mid-forties. She reduced to part-time, he stayed in full-time work. According to the land register the terraced house is owned in equal shares. Two figures come first: the pension rights adjustment and the accrued gains. It frequently turns out that the part-time years weigh more heavily than the house.
Uncontested divorce in Cologne: office and jurisdiction
My office is at Jakordenstrasse 8 in 50668 Cologne, in the Innenstadt-Nord district, close to the main station. For family matters in Cologne the family court at the Cologne Local Court decides, with appeals going to the Cologne Higher Regional Court. Which court has local jurisdiction follows statutory rules and not simply where you live, which is why I clarify it before any petition.
I offer appointments Monday to Thursday until 7 pm and Fridays until 5 pm, and later by arrangement. By video or phone on request. Clients come from Cologne and the surrounding area, from Bergisch Gladbach, Leverkusen, Bruehl, Huerth, Frechen, Pulheim and Langenfeld, and in part from even further afield. I can represent you throughout Germany, wherever the court happens to sit.
YOUR QUESTIONS
Frequently asked questions
The term describes no separate type of proceedings but the situation in which both want the divorce. After a year of separation the breakdown of the marriage is irrebuttably presumed where both petition for divorce or the respondent consents (section 1566(1) German Civil Code). What the label does not say: that the consequences are settled. Accrued gains, the property and maintenance stay open until someone settles them.
Not for the proceedings. Representation before the family court is mandatory (section 114(1) FamFG), but not for consenting to the divorce (section 114(4) no. 3). I represent only one side and may not advise the other. Where property, pension provision or a shareholding is involved, a second legal opinion therefore makes sense, and it does not turn the divorce into a contested one.
No. Only the pension rights adjustment runs automatically. Where the marriage lasted up to three years, even that only happens on application (section 3(3) Pension Rights Adjustment Act). The equalisation of accrued gains is a claim a spouse has to assert. The point at which the divorce petition becomes pending is decisive for the calculation (section 1384 German Civil Code).
That is determined by the pension rights adjustment, because information has to be obtained from every pension provider. Where both spouses agree and no other ancillary matters arise, there are usually a few months between the petition and the hearing. What can mainly be accelerated is your own cooperation: complete documents, promptly completed questionnaires, no late additions. Settling the consequences in an agreement beforehand keeps the proceedings short.
Four blocks, and none of them settles itself: the equalisation of accrued gains; the property, with a buy-out or a sale; maintenance within the limits of sections 1585c and 1614(1) German Civil Code; and the pension rights adjustment, if you want to arrange it differently (section 6(1) Pension Rights Adjustment Act). The result is notarially recorded and contains, for every payment, a submission to immediate enforcement (section 794(1) no. 5 Code of Civil Procedure).
I bill by time, at an hourly rate of 280 euros plus 19% VAT. The statutory fees under the German Lawyers' Fees Act (RVG) form the minimum. The work lies not in the proceedings but in the division of assets beforehand. Billing through legal expenses insurance is possible. As a rule the insurer only pays the statutory fees; you bear the difference to the hourly fee.
Divorce by agreement, without leaving loose ends
Bring what you have: details of both sides' assets, documents on the property, evidence of pension entitlements. In the initial consultation we clarify what has to be settled in your case, in what order, and when it makes sense to file the petition.