married in Euro divorced in UK & wills

itsmebee

If you are married in Euro country (long time ago before we became part of EU) and then divorced in UK, are you divorced in the country you married in?

also if anyone knows, does a UK last Will and testament (notarised) have validity abroad or in Europe?

Keep_pedalling

Yes you will be divorced globally. As for the will, that depends on where the assets are held. Sometimes it is nessasary to have more than one will if you own property in more than one country

benjus

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

Yes you will be divorced globally

Are you sure about this? Every country has its own laws about marriage and divorce, and I don't think you can make a blanket statement like this. At the very least, there might be some paperwork to go through (such as getting the Decree Absolute translated and an Apostille attached) before the other country will recognise the divorce. Malta, for example, only legalised divorce in 2011.

thorsoak

You really need a will for each and every country in which you own property/have assets - each country may have its own rules of inheritance.

TBagpuss

*generally* speaking countries recognise marriages and divorces from foreign countries, although you would need to check in relation to the specific country, and some countries may require you to register your divorce locally.

In relation to wills, things are more complex, as different countries have different rules about the extent to which you have freedom to leave things the way you want.
If you have property or assets in more than one country it is sensible to get expert advice, and to ensure that your will or wills are valid and don't cancel each other out. For instance, the wording of the can define what it applies to, so you can have (say) an English will which is limited to asset in England and Wales, and a French will limited to property and assets in France, but you would also need to check whether they each needed to include reference to the other will, to explicitly state that it doesn't revoke any earlier, foreign will.