FINLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Pekka Tuunainen, Pekka Tuunainen Attorneys Ltd
explained, spousal maintenance is a rare institu - tion in Finland. 1.2 Choice of Jurisdiction Jurisdiction of Finnish courts in divorce matters is based on the residency of either spouse. If both spouses are habitually resident in Finland, there are no other requirements. Nationality has relevance only in cases when both of the spouses are Finnish citizens. In such cases, Finnish courts always have jurisdiction, even when the spouses have never lived in, or even visited Finland. In all other cases, national - ity has no relevance. There are some limitations on the residency con - cept when only one of the spouses is resident in Finland. In these cases, Finnish courts have jurisdiction only when one (or more) of the fol - lowing criteria is met: • joint application is made; • the spouses were last habitually resident in Finland and one of them still resides in Fin- land; • if the respondent spouse is habitually resident in Finland; • the applicant is habitually resident in Finland and resided there for at least a year immedi- ately before the application was filed; or • the applicant is habitually resident in Finland and resided there for at least six months immediately before the application was made and they are a Finnish citizen. This means that a Finnish resident cannot apply for divorce immediately when they move back to Finland from a foreign country. There is at least a six or 12-month period before application can be made.
In national legislation, there is also a back-up clause for jurisdiction. If the applicant is resident in Finland or has other close links to Finland and they cannot successfully start divorce proceed - ings in the foreign state where either spouse is domiciled, or this would cause unreasonable inconvenience, and the admissibility of the matter in Finland is justified in view of the cir - cumstances, Finnish courts may rule they have jurisdiction on the matter. This usually requires extraordinary situations – eg, war or legal impos - sibility to file divorce in the other state. Jurisdiction can be contested if the above- mentioned requirement for jurisdiction is not met. Courts are required to determine jurisdic - tion ex officio, but sometimes an applicant can give false information, or the registers determin - ing residency are not accurate. In such cases, a party to a divorce proceeding must oppose jurisdiction when responding for the first time to court. If a divorce proceeding is already filed in some other jurisdiction before being filed in Finland, it is possible to apply to stay proceedings in Fin - land and the Finnish divorce procedure is defini - tively ended. If one of the parties can prove that the other divorce proceeding is not real or they will not get a fair trial, the procedure in Finland may continue.
2. Financial Proceedings 2.1 Choice of Jurisdiction
A Finnish court has jurisdiction for financial proceedings if divorce is filed successfully in a Finnish court (ie, Finland has jurisdiction in the divorce proceedings). This is of course the case when both spouses are resident in Finland and in
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