The demand for official translations of English and Spanish divorce documents continues to grow as a result of British citizens getting divorced and having assets in Spain or living and getting divorced in Spain. Equally, Spanish citizens may also get divorced in the UK if they are living there.
A Decree Absolute and a Consent Order will be given by the English court when a couple get divorced in the UK.
The Decree Absolute confirms that the marriage is to be dissolved.
The Consent Order confirms the agreement reached by the parties and orders the actions to be carried out by the parties.
A Divorce Judgment will be given by the Spanish court when a couple get divorced in Spain. There is no equivalent to the Decree Absolute in Spain because it is the Spanish Divorce Judgement the document which confirms the dissolution of the marriage and orders the actions to be carried out by the parties. The Spanish Divorce Judgement tends to be a document longer than the English Consent Order because it includes Facts or Facts in Issue, Legal Grounds and the Decision and the Judge mentions the relevant Spanish laws.
An official translation into Spanish of the Decree Absolute and Consent Order will be necessary if the ex-husband and the ex-wife have a property in Spain and the Consent Orders states whether the property is to be transferred to one of the ex-spouses or to be sold. The Decree Absolute and Court Order affixed with the Apostille will have to be submitted together with their official translations to the Spanish notaries, land registries or banks (if there is a mortgage).
If one of the ex-spouses is to remarry, for example in Spain, the official translation of the Decree Absolute will be necessary. The Decree Absolute will have to be apostilled and submitted to the relevant Spanish Authorities.
Finally, a British couple may get divorced in Spain if they are living there. If afterwards, the ex-spouse who was awarded custody of the children returns to the UK with the children, the official translation into English of the Spanish Judgment will be necessary as the Judgment will confirm which parent has been awarded custody and visitation rights.
The examples above will apply to Spanish citizens who get divorced in the UK.