Divorce in Estonia: Budget-Friendly Services

Updated on Tuesday 22nd August 2023

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Divorce in Estonia

While divorce cases are complex and can involve a wide range of legal, financial, and personal considerations, our divorce lawyers in Estonia can play a crucial role in guiding you through this process. The agreement for divorce in Estonia can be done at a government office, a notary's office, or a court if the spouses are in a dispute.

Obtaining a divorce in Estonia

If both spouses agree to get divorced in Estonia, they can fill out an application together and submit it to the Vital Statistics Department.

However, if one spouse doesn’t agree with the divorce decision, or if there are disagreements about the details, they have to go to court. If the partners have been apart for two years, the court considers their marriage to be definitively ended.

Our divorce lawyers in Estonia have highlighted some of the documents needed for this process:

Passport or ID cards;
Marriage certificate;
Payment proof;
Application form.

Please note that if your marriage was registered in Estonia, you don't need this document, only if it was registered in another country. Also, if it's not in Estonian, Russian, or English language, it needs to be translated, and confirmed by a notary, consular officer, or sworn translator.

In this case, our divorce attorneys in Estonia can help you navigate the legal process of divorce, providing advice on your rights, helping with paperwork, and representing your interests in negotiations or court proceedings.

Parental responsibilities after a divorce

After a divorce in Estonia, parents should agree on where the minor children will live, how both parents will take care of them, and to what extent, and also decide on financial support. The monthly payment to support a minor child can't be lower than the minimum set by the Family Law Act.

If the parents don't want or can't share custody, either parent has the right to ask the court to change custody rights. This doesn't affect the responsibility to provide financial support for the child.

The court decides on issues related to parental contact, changes in custody, maintenance allowance, and considering the best interests of the child. In addition to these issues, the court might have to make decisions on various other matters such as:

Visitation schedules;
Supervised visitations;
Relocation;
Forms of communication with the child;
Special circumstances for children with disabilities or mental health issues.

Our divorce lawyers in Estonia can provide support in such complex cases involving a minor child in a divorce.

Property division

When a marriage ends in divorce in Estonia, the property owned by the spouses is divided based on their property arrangement. If they have joint property, it's typically divided equally as laid out in the rules for ending shared ownership.

The value of the joint property is determined when the property arrangement ends. However, spouses aren't obligated to divide their property when divorcing.

Until their joint property is divided, both spouses continue to share rights and responsibilities related to that property. They also have the right to use and possess items that are part of their joint property. Our Estonian law firm handles these divorce cases as well.

Choosing to end a marriage and proceed to divorce is a difficult decision, but it is not uncommon in Estonia. Here are a few facts about marriage and divorces in the country, according to Statistics Estonia:

There were over 7,000 marriages registered in Estonia in 2022;
In contrast, there were over 2,000 divorces registered in the same year;
1,910 females remarried in 2022;
On average, the mean age of first marriage in Estonia was 32 for males and 30 for females in 2022.

For a divorce in Estonia, please contact our Estonian lawyers, as they can offer valuable insights and help achieve the best possible outcomes in this challenging time.