Divorce

Divorce by agreement may be the fastest way to dissolve a marriage:

• Notarial route (without minor children) — 1-2 sessions, total duration 30-60 days
• Notarial route with children — 60-120 days (agreement on custody and maintenance is required)
• Judicial route by agreement — 60-120 days at the court

Essential conditions: both spouses must agree on the dissolution and on all consequences (division of assets, child custody, maintenance).

In addition to official fees (notarial or stamp), legal assistance is optional but recommended — especially when there are minor children or common assets. For an evaluation tailored to your situation, schedule an initial consultation.

Yes, divorce does not require the consent of both spouses. The procedure: contentious divorce at the court. Accepted grounds:

• Fault — behavior making continuation impossible (violence, infidelity, abandonment, alcoholism)
• Factual separation exceeding 2 years — without examining fault
• Impossibility of continuation — specific situations (e.g. serious criminal conviction, definitive psychiatric commitment)

Duration: 6-18 months at first instance. The non-consenting spouse may prolong via challenges, but cannot definitively block the divorce. At the end of proceedings, the court grants the divorce regardless of their position.

Divorce on grounds of fault by the spouse refusing divorce is advantageous for the requesting spouse — it affects asset division (2/3 share of common assets) and sometimes parental authority.

The wife (or husband, if they took the other's surname) may keep the family name or revert to the one prior to marriage. The decision is made at divorce:

• Agreement with the spouse — the easy option, registered in the judgment/notarial act
• Unilateral request in court — if the spouse refuses agreement. The court evaluates "well-grounded reasons" — typically professional interest, social recognition, children with a common name

After divorce, a subsequent name change request is more complicated: only via special administrative procedure at the Town Hall + decision of the Ministry of Justice, with substantive justification. Recommendation: decide at divorce, do not leave it for later.

Yes. Romanians married abroad may divorce in Romania if at least one spouse is a Romanian citizen or has residence in Romania. Procedure:

1. Recognition of the marriage — the foreign marriage certificate must be apostilled, translated, and transcribed into Romanian registers (General Directorate for Civil Status)
2. Divorce petition — at the court of domicile or, if neither lives in Romania, at the District 1 Bucharest Court
3. Applicable law — Rome III or Brussels II ter Regulation for EU citizens; bilateral conventions for non-EU

The Romanian divorce judgment may be recognized in other EU states via European certificate; for non-EU states, apostille legalization and sometimes exequatur procedure apply in the respective state.

Divorce does NOT automatically extinguish obligations to the bank. Banks remain creditors of both spouses, regardless of asset division:

• Common debt — both spouses remain jointly and severally liable until full repayment
• Internal agreement between spouses (who pays installments) is not enforceable against the bank — the bank may demand full payment from either spouse
• Solutions at divorce: refinancing in a single spouse's name (the bank must accept), sale of the mortgaged property and repayment, or assumption of credit together with collateral changes

Practically: do not sign a partition assigning you a property with credit if the bank does not officially transfer the credit to the other spouse — you risk remaining liable for installments on a property no longer yours.