NETHERLANDS Law and Practice Contributed by: Sandra Verburgt, Petra Beishuizen and Ivo Janssens, Delissen Martens Advocaten
• choice of court agreement; • common habitual residence in the Nether - lands at the time the court is seised; • last habitual residence in the Netherlands, where one of the spouses still resides at the time the court is seised; • the respondent has their residence in the Netherlands at the time the court is seised; or • both spouses have Dutch nationality. If a matrimonial settlement has already been obtained as part of a foreign divorce, the court will likely consider that there is no interest for the spouses in second proceedings on the same subject. However, if the parties are co-owners of real estate in the Netherlands and that property has not been divided in the foreign divorce pro - ceedings, each party may seek division of that real estate in the Netherlands. Contesting Jurisdiction A party’s ability to contest jurisdiction is limited to certain defined situations. Where the estate of the deceased falls under the EU Succession Regulation but includes assets located in a third state, the Dutch court seised to rule on the mat - rimonial property regime may – at the request of one of the parties – decide not to rule on one or more of such assets if its decision is unlikely to be recognised and (where applicable) declared enforceable in that third state. As previously mentioned, another reason to con - test jurisdiction is when the jurisdiction is solely based on the habitual residence of the petition - er and there is no choice of court agreement between the parties. Lis Pendens If proceedings between the same parties on the same subject are already pending in another EU member state, any court other than the court
first seised shall – of its own motion – stay its proceedings until the jurisdiction of the court first seised is established. Where related actions are pending in the courts of different EU member states, any court other than the court first seised
may stay its proceedings. Forum Non Conveniens
The forum non conveniens concept is not an acceptable jurisdictional ground in the Nether - lands. In other words, if a foreign court would accept divorce jurisdiction merely on this ground and those proceedings are commenced later than the Dutch proceedings, it is unlikely that a request to stay Dutch divorce proceedings would be granted – nor is it likely that an anti-suit injunction order issued in the foreign jurisdiction would be recognised in the Netherlands. 2.2 Service and Process If ancillary to divorce proceedings, the claim is instituted by ancillary request in the divorce peti - tion and will follow the service process of the divorce proceedings (see 1.2 Choice of Juris- diction ). In the event of separate proceedings, the claim is instituted by summons and will be served upon the defendant by a bailiff if the defendant is resident in the Netherlands. After the defendant has been served, the summons will be lodged with the court. If the defendant is not habitually resident in the Netherlands, the summons will be served under the EU Service Regulation or the
Hague Service Convention 1965. Timeline for Financial Proceedings
If part of divorce proceedings, contentious proceedings could take between one and two years. However, financial proceedings tend to last between three and six months if based on a divorce agreement and including the negotia -
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