PORTUGAL Law and Practice Contributed by: João Perry da Câmara, Teresa Silva Tavares, Sofia Vaz Pardal and Joana Salazar Gomes, Rogério Alves & Associados
Depending on the grounds for the nullity of the marriage, the application can be filed only within a certain period, namely, if the reason for the nul - lity is that one of the spouses is underage, until six months after reaching majority. If the ground for nullity is a lack of will or a vicious will, the deadline to file for the application requesting nul - lity will be six months after the parties acknowl - edge the lack of will or the vicious will cease. It is also possible to petition the court for judicial separation, but it does not end the marital bond; it only extinguishes the cohabitation duty. In rela - tion to assets, the effects of judicial separation will be the same as divorce. It is important to emphasise that one year after the court decision rendering judicial separation final and binding, any of the spouses can judi - cially request that the separation be converted into divorce. 1.2 Choice of Jurisdiction As Portugal is a member state of the European Union, Regulation 2019/1111, dated 25 June 2019, must be applied to establish the interna - tional competence of a Portuguese court. Article 3 sets down the relevant connections for com - petent international jurisdiction, which mainly relate to the habitual residence and nationality of the spouses, even if they are a same-sex couple. According to the aforementioned Regulation, the concept of residence is considered on a case- by-case basis. A person’s place of residence is where the centre of that person’s life is estab - lished, namely, where they work, live, have fam- ily, friends, etc. In a divorce, if one of the parties considers that the court that has been seized is not internation -
ally competent for the divorce, they can contest the jurisdiction. According to Article 17 of the Regulation, the court is seised when the document instituting the proceedings is lodged with the court or, if the document has to be served before being lodged with the court, when it is received by the author - ity responsible for service. To stay proceedings, a party can invoke that they have already filed for divorce in another jurisdic - tion. In this situation, and according to Article 20 of the Regulation, the court where the process has been filed in second place will stay its pro - ceedings until the jurisdiction of the court first seised is established. While divorce proceedings are pending and until the final decision, a party can ask for financial provisional measures: provisional alimony and provisional use of the marital home. In both cas - es, the party must allege the necessity of it, their weaker economic capacity, and the economic capacity of the other spouse to grant alimony and also to find a new house for themselves. If there are children, alimony for the benefit of the children can be requested, with proof of the children’s needs and the economic capacity of the parent obliged to pay for it. A party can contest the international compe - tence of a jurisdiction, if there are grounds for that: namely, that the court of another country has exclusive jurisdiction to decide about a cer - tain type of assets, eg, real estate. 2. Financial Proceedings 2.1 Choice of Jurisdiction
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