NETHERLANDS Law and Practice Contributed by: Sandra Verburgt, Petra Beishuizen and Ivo Janssens, Delissen Martens Advocaten
• the child has its habitual residence in the Netherlands; or • the spouses are two Dutch nationals living abroad with their child and both agree that the Dutch divorce judge will decide upon the matters regarding parental responsibilities and/or child support. Remedies for disputes concerning parental responsibilities or child support can also be requested in separate proceedings if the child is habitually resident in the Netherlands or the maintenance debtor is resident in the Nether - lands. Grounds for jurisdiction may also be found in the Hague Child Protection Convention 1996 (the “1996 Hague Convention”) and the Hague Protection of Minors Convention 1961 (in respect of non-contracting states to the 1996 Hague Convention). As an EU member state, the Netherlands will apply the Brussels II ter Regulation when determining international jurisdiction in mat - ters regarding parental responsibilities and the EU Maintenance Regulation when determining jurisdiction in matters regarding child support obligations. In these regulations, the concepts of domicile, residence and nationality are frequent - ly used to determine jurisdiction (see 1.2 Choice of Jurisdiction for further details and definition). Usually, the child’s residence matches that of the parent with whom they live. 3.2 Living/Contact Arrangements and
whereby they have agreed upon provisions with regard to: • parental authority (eg, principal residence and the care and contact arrangement between the children and non-resident parent); • information and consultation between parents on important matters in the lives of the chil - dren (eg, schooling, medical treatment, and religion); and • financial matters (eg, child support and the management of the children’s wealth). If the parties do not agree to some of the ele - ments of the parenting plan or cannot agree on any provision for the children, the Family Court will schedule a hearing in which they will hear the case and make the appropriate provisions. If the court deems it useful, the court may ask for advice from the Child Care and Protection Board. However, the court is not required to ask for such advice. The main rule is that joint parental authority will be maintained upon divorce. Only in very rare cases will one parent be vested with sole paren - tal authority – for example, in cases of domes - tic abuse or drug or alcohol abuse that poses a threat to the child’s safety. Such a decision will not be rendered without investigations by and a written advisory report from the Child Care and Protection Board. For more information on how the courts approach disputes regarding parental responsibilities after divorce, please refer to 3.3 Other Matters . Joint parental responsibility for parents who are neither married nor registered as partners On 1 January 2023, a bill entitled Directe kop- peling van erkenning en gezamenlijk gezag voor ongehuwde en niet-geregistreerde partners (Stb 2022, 242) (in English: “Direct link between rec -
Child Maintenance Child Arrangements Divorce proceedings
As mentioned in 1.1 Grounds, Timeline, Service and Process , there is an extra condition for the granting of divorce if the spouses have minor children. The spouses must submit – along with the divorce petition – a signed parenting plan,
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