Portugal divorce

Legal Framework

• Portuguese Civil Code (PCC)
• Executive-Law no 272/2001
• Portuguese Civil Registration Code
• Portuguese Civil Procedure Code

Competent Authority

Two types depending on circumstances:

1. Civil Registrar (for consensual divorce when certain conditions are met)
2. Courts (for contentious divorce and consensual divorce when conditions for civil registrar are not met)

Access Requirements

For Civil Registrar divorce:

Both spouses must agree to divorce, also on:

• Exercise of parental responsibilities
• Maintenance of spouse in need
• Allocation of family home
• Future treatment of pets

For Court divorce:

Required when:

• One spouse does not consent (unilateral divorce)
• Spouses fail to reach agreement on any of the required matters for administrative divorce

Procedure

1. Judicial Divorce
2. Administrative Divorce (before Civil Registrar):
   • Application signed by spouses or attorneys submitted to civil registry office (must include required agreements and documentary evidence)
   • Civil registrar informs about family mediation services
   • Civil registrar verifies requirements and assesses agreements

– If minor children involved, agreement sent to Public Prosecutor for verification

– If agreements not approved, case sent to court

Statistical analysis

Data were requested from the Portuguese National Statistical Institute (INE). Divorces are classified as either extrajudicial (handled by civil registry offices) or judicial (processed through the courts).

Figure 3 Judicial and Extrajudicial Divorces in Portugal, 2015–2022 – Number of Divorces per million inhabitants

^{Note: Our elaboration based on data provided by INE Portugal upon request in June 2025}

Figure 4 Percentage Distribution of judicial and extra-judicial divorces by age of one spouse – Portugal, 2022

^{Note: Our elaboration based on data provided by INE Portugal upon request in June 2025.}

Figure 5 Percentage distribution of judicial and extra-judicial divorces by education of one spouse, Portugal 2022

^{Note: Our elaboration based on data provided by INE Portugal upon request in June 2025.}