Divorce

Good afternoon. I got married as a minor because I got pregnant. Now to cut a long story short, I live separately from my husband for 6 years and he refuses to allow me the divorce or sign on a divorce. He does not allow me to see our child or call it. He is constantly threating me. He called me and said that he had reported me to a social worker, I do not know why? I do not know what to do. I have been living with another man for a year and a half, he knows the whole situation and he really supports me, and we intend to start a family.

Dear, divorce can be filed by one spouse in a form of a lawsuit, which means that the other spouse does not have to agree with it, and precisely because of such situations you mention, institutions such as courts exist in order to help people who encounter difficulties in their relationships and cannot solve them on their own.

The court shall dissolve a marriage:

1. if both spouses propose a divorce on the basis of an agreement
2. if it determines that the marital relations are severely and permanently disturbed or
3. if one year has elapsed since the dissolution of the marital union.

Spouses who have a minor child together are obliged to participate in compulsory counselling before initiating court proceedings for divorce, and the plaintiff is required to provide a report on compulsory counselling and proof of participation in the first family mediation meeting.

Mandatory counselling is a form of assistance to family members to make consensual decisions on family relations, taking special care to protect family relations in which the child participates and the legal consequences of not reaching an agreement and initiating court proceedings to decide on the child’s personal rights. Compulsory counselling is carried out by the expert team of the Social Welfare Centre competent according to the place where the child lives, i.e. its residence, or according to the place of the last joint residence, i.e. residence of the spouses or common-law partners. 

Please note that the best interests of the child should be borne in mind and despite the broken relationship with your ex-partner, try to protect the child as much as possible because by doing so you are in investing in your mutual quality future.