For most people, ending a relationship - whether you are married, having a registered partnership or living together - has a big impact on their life. There are so many questions: Where to begin, what needs to be arranged (financially and/or legally) and what if there are minor children involved?
To make sure all legal and practical issues are considered, a mediator can be helpful in guiding talks and making sure everything is discussed and agreed upon in an equitable manner. Here are a few of the things that may need to be considered:
This depends on the legal structure of your relationship.
When you have minor children, the Dutch law says that you need to agree on a parenting plan. In this parenting plan, the parents lay down all the rules and agreements for after their separation that pertain to the children. These include:
Another important issue to address is the financial separation between the couple. First of all, the question arises whether there is a prenuptial agreement or partnership/cohabitation agreement in place that has rules laid down for the financial relation between the partners.
If this is not the case, the applicable property regime needs to be established to determine what are mutual assets or debts and what is to be seen as private assets or debts.
When both partners reside in the Netherlands, Dutch maintenance rules apply. Broadly, this means that if the parties are married or have a registered partnership and one party isn’t able to provide for themselves financially after the separation, the other party might be obliged to pay for spousal support. Whether this is the case depends on the financial situation of that party.
The term for spousal support depends on the length of the marriage or registered partnership and whether there are minor children involved.
Another aspect to take into consideration is if there are claims on estates that fall into the financial settlement scope of the marriage or registered partnership. This could even be the case if the financial claim for a specific estate is not yet due because the other parent of that partner is still alive.
It is also important to check what the will of the deceased states if the inheritance falls into the (matrimonial) property regime.
The above shows that there are quite some topics to address when separating. Mediation should be considered when both parties want to work it out together and prevent legal proceedings for which they would both need an attorney-at-law.
The benefits of mediation versus legal proceedings are:
It is advised to choose a mediator that is also an attorney-at-law because of the various legal aspects that need to be addressed when separating.
If mediation doesn’t work, the parties can contact an attorney-at-law for themselves to be represented by. When this happens, sometimes it is still possible to reach an amicable settlement with assistance of both attorneys.