Brit/Pol divorce. Husband - British, non resident Poland. Wife - Polish resident, Poland.

I am looking for a little feedback here from UK residents who have gone through a divorce proceeding with a Polish and have first hand experience of the pitfalls.

I recently visited a Polish lawyer in Warsaw regarding divorce advice, as soon as he realized it was a Brit/Pol case he started talking about his international partners in London and how they could solve the case, estimated cost indicated 80,000 polish zlotys.

As far as I understand the case will be straight forward.

Husband - British, non resident Poland.
Wife- Polish resident, Poland

Married civil - UK 1995
Church wedding Poland- 1994

Civil marriage was never registered in Poland.
Children 2 age 17 and 20 school and University, residents Poland.

Assets in Poland.

Apartment, 3 cars, land, Polish art collection - value 4 Mil

In year 2,000 created a separation of assets contract, which is fully notarized - all assets in Poland in Polish wife name. Assets outside of Poland owned in husbands name.

Reason for divorce - irreconcilable differences, no third party involvement.

Distribution.

I have agreed in principal with my wife all asset in Poland are belonging solely to her, she will receive a monthly payment of 10,000 Polish zlotys for a period of 12 months during separation. Divorce proceeding will take place in UK as our marriage was never formally registered in Poland, moreover my experience with Polish law has never straight forward.

Children

I will pay for University, school fees,accommodation and living expenses during study 100%, both children will study outside of Poland as from 2017.

In my understanding such procedure does not need to take place in Polish court as we are married civil in the UK only, according to the Polish lawyer because we are married in a Polish church first we must apply for proceedings in Poland first.

Anyone had a similar experience?

Interesting stance, given that your Polish wedding was years before the Concordat of 1993 was ratified by the Sejm.

Surely those marriages conducted by the Church before they had the right to carry out officially recognised marriages simply aren't valid?

My belief was always a Church wedding was just a show wedding and the Civil was legally binding. According to the Lawyer in Poland, Catholic matrimonial law, is based on Roman law regarding its focus on marriage as a free mutual agreement or contract,a marriage conducted in a Catholic church is a covenant by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership for the whole of life. Therefore the wife would have claim on all monies earned after the UK divorce had been obtained.

This is the reason for an annulment first in Poland, then application for a UK divorce.

Utter and total misinformation and a blatant attempt to deceive. Getting an annulment can be an expensive process involving blatant bribery, and obviously this lawyer sees you as a potential source of easy cash.

In the eyes of the law, your marriage in the church was simply to confirm the vows in the eyes of the Church. It was before the Church had the right to conduct legal marriages, so your wife has no right to anything if the divorce is granted by the UK as long as the marriage was never officially recognised by Poland.

Divorce in the UK, and if you want the marriage annulled, expect a hefty contribution to the Cathedral's roof repair funds.

I have already spoken with a UK Lawyer, so I have my bases covered at that end. The only reason I took into consideration the Polish end was because of a Polish joint venture I will be involved in later this year. Its not that I do not trust my wife to not be...

I was more interested in covering the bases, we all know how cut throat Polish women can be among themselves when they feel scorned or become infected by the well meaning...

Wow this is a daylight robbery, it would make sense paying this much only in the case that this lawyer has some deep insider connections with the judge. That would help because polish family courts are notoriously extremely biased and vindictive against foreigners and men in general so you'll get robbed anyway.

This can be true, however it looks like the OP and his ex aren't fighting over assets/custody so surely everything should go as the former couple have agreed between themselves?

The thing is Polish courts are unpredictable was there a prenuptial agreement and even then can it be thrown out in Poland? If there wasn't any agreement wife can say for example that he is hiding his true assets or something and then he will be rekt.

Guy is paying 15 higher child support than he entire income just because an ex-wife said he is hiding his true income.

fakt.pl/wydarzenia/alimenty-doprowadza-go-do-bankructwa-,artykuly,550321.html




Could someone elaborate more on Church marriages in Poland so according to Polish catholic matrimonial law man has to pay a wife alimony for life or what? It's worse than I thought. Explain.

No. Not in the slightest. The only thing is that if it's a concordat wedding (i.e., one that is recognised by the State) - then the usual rules apply.