You got divorced in France, and now a Spanish authority wants proof: to remarry, to update your civil status, for citizenship, for an inheritance. The good news is that, unlike a British divorce after Brexit, a French divorce plays by European Union rules, and that makes things far simpler. Let's sort it out.
Two routes, two documents
In France a divorce can end in two very different ways, and the paper you bring to Spain depends on which one is yours.
Judicial divorce. If there was disagreement or the case went before the family judge (juge aux affaires familiales), the document proving the dissolution is the jugement de divorce, and specifically its copie exécutoire: the official copy bearing the enforcement formula, issued by the court. It is the functional equivalent of a final divorce judgment.
Divorce by mutual consent without a judge. Since 1 January 2017 (Law 2016-1547 on modernising justice), France allows spouses to divorce without going before a court when both agree. They sign a convention de divorce par consentement mutuel, drafted and countersigned by two lawyers —each spouse has their own— after a 15-day cooling-off period. The agreement is then deposited with a notary (dépôt au rang des minutes), who checks the mandatory particulars and the time limits without ruling on the merits. The notary issues an attestation de dépôt setting the date the divorce takes effect. Here there is no judgment: what proves the divorce is the convention and its deposit certificate.
Knowing which one you hold is the first step, because the Spanish procedure rests on that specific document.
The European twist: recognition without exequatur
This is the big difference from a divorce from a non-EU country. France and Spain are both EU Member States, so a French divorce circulates under Regulation (EU) 2019/1111, "Brussels II ter" (applicable since 1 August 2022, successor to the earlier Brussels II bis).
What does that mean in practice? That the divorce decision is recognised in Spain without exequatur, with no prior court homologation procedure. And not only judgments: the Regulation also recognises agreements and authentic instruments with binding effect in the country of origin, which expressly covers the convention de divorce par consentement mutuel. To ease recognition, the French body can issue the Article 36 certificate under the Regulation, a harmonised form summarising the decision.
Compare this with a post-Brexit British divorce, treated as coming from a third State and, depending on the case, potentially requiring the exequatur procedure. A French divorce skips that step. On top of that, between France and Spain no apostille is needed: Regulation (EU) 2016/1191 waives legalisation for public documents moving between Member States.
That said, "without exequatur" does not mean "without paperwork". Whether you specifically need it in your case —dates, registration, which authority— is a lawyer's call, not a translator's, and it is worth checking.
So why am I asked for a translation?
Because easier recognition does not turn the document into Spanish. The Spanish Civil Registry cannot enter a French-language document into its records without a Spanish version carrying guarantees of fidelity. To register the divorce —often at the Central Civil Registry if the marriage is recorded there— or for any annotation changing your civil status, standard practice is to submit the jugement (or the convention) with a sworn translation into Spanish.
A useful note on Regulation 2016/1191: besides waiving the apostille, it offers multilingual standard forms that accompany certain civil-status certificates (birth, marriage, marital status) and act as a translation aid, sometimes sparing you from translating that certificate. But be careful: this multilingual form covers registry certificates, not the divorce decision or the notarial convention. For the jugement or the convention, if the authority wants them in Spanish, the route is a sworn translation.
What it will be asked for
- Remarrying in Spain: the marriage file requires proof that the previous marriage was dissolved. We cover it in the guide to marriage with a foreign national and in the post on getting married in Spain as a French citizen.
- Registering the divorce or a later marriage at the Civil Registry.
- Spanish citizenship: the civil status you declare must match your documents.
- Inheritance and pensions, where proving marital status is decisive.
The sworn translation, without surprises
The document is short but dense with procedural terminology: jugement, copie exécutoire, ordonnance, prestation compensatoire, convention, dépôt au rang des minutes. A translation that confuses a notarial convention with a court judgment, or drops the enforcement formula, can stall a file. That is why it must be signed by a sworn translator authorised by the MAEC, who certifies the fidelity of the whole: decision, court or notary seals and, where present, the Article 36 certificate.
At Textualia we translate jugements de divorce, conventions de divorce par consentement mutuel and their deposit certificates from French into Spanish, delivered as an electronically signed PDF valid before registries, notaries and immigration offices. You settle the procedural side with your lawyer; we handle the paperwork.