ATTENTION!!! Automatic translation from Polish.
According to the draft of the Ministry of Justice of May 12, 2025 (Government Legislation Center list number: UDER24), the proceedings for the dissolution of marriage in Poland are facing a revolutionary change.
The drafter proposes to introduce a solution that will allow spouses to obtain a dissolution by submitting consistent statements before the head of the Civil Registry Office or before the Polish Consul (in the case of Polish citizens staying abroad).
The grounds for dissolving a marriage in this procedure were defined by the drafter as follows: complete and permanent breakdown of marriage, duration of the marriage longer than one year and no common minor children.
The effects of an extrajudicial divorce will be the same as a divorce obtained under the previous rules.
Importantly, an extrajudicial divorce produces the same effects as if neither spouse was at fault for the breakdown of marriage.
At the same time, a procedure enabling extrajudicial divorce has been provided for, as each of the spouses and the head of the registry office may file a request to invalidate an extrajudicial divorce if, at the time of submitting the declaration of dissolution of the marriage, the spouses had common minor children.
According to the draft, an action for invalidation of an extrajudicial divorce may also be filed by a spouse who, at the time of submitting the declaration of dissolution of the marriage, acted:
a) in a state that precluded conscious or free decision-making and expression of will;
b) under the influence of an unlawful threat from the other spouse or a third party, if it follows from the circumstances that the person submitting the declaration could have feared that he or she or another person was in serious personal or property danger;
c) under the influence of an error, caused deceitfully by the other spouse, justifying the assumption that if the spouse had not acted under the influence of error and had assessed the matter reasonably, he or she would not have submitted a declaration of dissolution of the marriage; the deceit of a third party is equivalent to the deceit of the other spouse, if the latter knew about the deceit. The time limit for filing this action for the annulment of an extrajudicial divorce is 6 months from the cessation of the above obstacles, but no later than 3 years from the submission of consistent declarations of dissolution of the marriage before the head of the Civil Registry Office or the consul.
A detailed procedure leading to the dissolution of the marriage before the head of the civil registry office has been provided for as part of the amendments to the Act of 28 November 2024 – the Law on Civil Status Records. In particular, attention should be paid to 2 amendments to this Act.
The head of the civil registry office cannot receive assurances from the spouses if a divorce case is pending between the spouses.
Spouses intending to dissolve the marriage through an extrajudicial divorce, simultaneously present, present identity documents to the head of the civil registry office or the consul and submit assurances in writing recorded in paper form confirming the existence of the grounds for an extrajudicial divorce.
The proposed change ensures the acceleration of the possibility of obtaining a divorce and relief of the courts, while meeting the conditions for obtaining a divorce in this procedure.
The deadline for completing the legislative work was set for the second quarter of 2025.