Divorce Step by Step
The divorce reform in force since January 2026 has simplified the process, but a lot still depends on how well your agreements are prepared. I will guide you through the whole process: from the agreement on the children to dividing marital property.
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Ing. Mgr. Tomáš Beneš, attorney-at-law
Czech Bar Association reg. no. 20354 · Updated 17 July 2026
Uncontested or contested divorce
A major amendment to family law (Act No. 268/2025 Coll.) has been in force since 1 January 2026, and it substantially simplified divorce proceedings if you and your spouse agree. There are two paths: an uncontested divorce, where the court simply approves your agreements, and a contested divorce, where the court itself must establish that the marriage has broken down and decide the disputed issues.
The conditions for an uncontested divorce are set out in Section 757 of the Civil Code. For the court to grant a simplified divorce, you must meet all of the following conditions:
- ✓both spouses agree to the divorce; one of you files the petition and the other joins it, or you file it jointly
- ✓you both state that the marriage has broken down and that you want to divorce
- ✓as of the date the petition is filed, the marriage has lasted at least 1 year
- ✓if you have a minor child, you have agreed on arrangements for the child for the period after the divorce and the court has approved the agreement
- ✓you have agreed on the division of property, on housing, and, where relevant, on maintenance for the period after the divorce
Beware of outdated information about 6 months of living apart
Until the end of 2025, there was still a condition that the spouses had to live apart for at least 6 months. The amendment abolished it as of 1 January 2026, because in practice it was not actually being verified anyway. If you come across a text that still mentions this condition, it reflects the legal situation before 2026 and is out of date.
If you and your spouse cannot agree on one of these conditions, it becomes a contested divorce. In such proceedings, the court no longer investigates the causes of the marriage’s breakdown, only whether the marriage is in fact and permanently broken down. Depending on the circumstances, it may refuse the divorce if it would be contrary to the interests of a minor child, or would cause particularly serious harm to a spouse who did not substantially contribute to the breakdown. In such a situation, I recommend a consultation so you know where you stand.
In practice, I most often see two situations where a divorce slips from uncontested to contested. The first is disagreement over custody of the children, typically when one parent wants to move the child outside Prague or abroad. The second is a dispute over a property held in joint marital property, where the spouses cannot agree on its value or on who will keep living there. Both can often be avoided if you prepare the agreement well in advance and have it reviewed before filing the petition.
Divorce step by step
1. Agreement on the children, if you have minor children
Since 2026, divorce proceedings and proceedings to arrange matters concerning minor children have been merged into a single proceeding before the guardianship court. The law no longer distinguishes between sole, alternating, or joint custody: if you and the other parent agree on the child’s care, the court approves the agreement and the child remains in the care of both parents. If you cannot agree, the court itself determines the scope of care each of you will provide. This is mainly a change of terminology, not a guarantee of an equal split of time; the court may still set one parent’s scope of care significantly lower. Without an approved agreement or decision on the children, the court will not grant the divorce; it is a condition within the same proceeding, not a separate step you have to complete weeks in advance.
2. Agreement on property (division of marital property) and on housing
For an uncontested divorce, you also need a written agreement dividing your joint marital property and covering housing for the period after the divorce, with officially certified signatures of both spouses (before a lawyer, notary, or at a CzechPoint). The agreement should clarify who gets the property, how the mortgage will be settled, who continues living there, and how the remaining assets and debts are divided. If you cannot agree on property, the divorce proceeds as contested, and the division of marital property can also be requested from the court separately, no later than 3 years from the end of the joint marital property (Section 741 of the Civil Code). After this deadline, a statutory presumption of division applies, which is generally less favorable to both former spouses than an agreement.
3. Drafting and filing the divorce petition
If you have a minor child, the petition is filed with the court of the child’s general residence, which conducts the joined proceeding covering both the divorce and the arrangements for the child (Section 398a of the Act on Special Court Proceedings). Without minor children, the petition is filed, as before, with the court of the spouses’ last common residence. One of you files it and the other joins it in writing, or you file it jointly. You attach the marriage certificate, the children’s birth certificates, and all the agreements, on the children, on property, and on housing. The more carefully you prepare the petition, the faster the court can decide.
4. Paying the court fee
For a petition for an uncontested divorce you pay a court fee of CZK 2,000; for a contested divorce, CZK 5,000. The court will send you the payment details after you file the petition, and the fee is due before the hearing is scheduled.
5. The court hearing
For an uncontested divorce, the hearing tends to be short: the court verifies that you meet the conditions of Section 757 of the Civil Code and approves the agreements submitted. For a contested divorce, the court establishes whether the marriage has truly broken down and resolves the disputed points, potentially through further hearings or expert opinions, typically on the valuation of property.
6. Judgment and its legal effect
The marriage is dissolved only on the day the judgment becomes final, not the day of the hearing. An appeal against the judgment may be filed within 15 days of delivery. If you filed a joint petition for divorce, an appeal is not admissible: the court granted exactly what you jointly requested. With the ”one files, the other joins” variant, an appeal is formally possible, but in practice it does not occur.
How long a divorce takes
No one can guarantee you an exact timeframe in advance; it depends on how busy the particular court is and how quickly you supply the documents. Experience shows, however, that an uncontested divorce with fully prepared agreements on children and property can often be handled by the court within a matter of weeks to a few months. A contested divorce, especially where child custody or larger property is also at stake, can instead drag on for many months or even years. The fastest way to shorten a divorce is to have both agreements finished and formally correct before you even file the petition.
Two formally identical cases can therefore be handled at very different speeds by two different courts. If speed matters to you, for example because of a planned property purchase or a change in the children’s residence, I recommend filing the petition with enough lead time and having both agreements finished before filing, not worked out on the fly.
What happens to housing after a divorce
How housing is resolved depends mainly on who owns the property or holds the lease:
- ✓property in joint marital property: handled as part of the division of assets, typically one spouse buys out the other, or the property is sold and the proceeds are split
- ✓property owned exclusively by one spouse: the other spouse generally has no right to keep living there unless you expressly agree otherwise
- ✓a jointly held flat lease: the tenancy can, by agreement, only be transferred to one of the former spouses
In practice, a lot also depends on where the children will live after the divorce. I recommend resolving housing with a written agreement before filing the divorce petition, so you know where you stand and do not have to address the question under the pressure of a court hearing.
Child support and spousal maintenance
Child support for a minor child is part of the agreement on arrangements for the children, and the court approves it together with the divorce. Its amount depends mainly on the parent’s income, the child’s needs, and the extent of care the other parent provides to the child. Besides child support, one of the spouses may also be entitled to maintenance from the other former spouse after the divorce, if they are unable, for objective reasons, to support themselves. You can work out an indicative calculation to use as a starting point when negotiating with the other side in the child support calculator. It is always only an approximate estimate; I am happy to clarify the specific amount during a consultation.
Frequently asked questions about divorce
Who will handle your case
Ing. Mgr. Tomáš Beneš
Attorney registered with the Czech Bar Association, based in Prague.
Law degree from Charles University. I focus on business law, real estate and employment disputes. I handle every case personally, no assistants.
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