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Laws on Mixed Marriages in Greece

Mixed marriages (between a Greek person and a foreigner), as well as divorces , are very common nowadays.

Greece on the year 2001 , has signed a specific Treaty with all European Countries , apart from Denmark.
With this Treaty , a European divorce Court's decision, is automatically valid and legal in both Countries of the divorcees, (Greece and the other European Countries).

What is happening with the rest of the Countries which have not signed the Treaty?
What is happening with all the European Countries from which Greek people got divorced prior of the year 2001?

According to the Greek law , the Greek persons who got divorced in a Country which has not signed the Treaty, or got divorced prior of the year 2001, are still considered married in Greece!!!

The Greek divorced persons must declare their foreign divorce court's decision, legal in Greece. To accomplish this purpose, a lawyer has to make an application to the Greek court, receive a hearing date and present the case in front of the Judge.

It is also necessary to present the court with certain documentation from the Greek and the foreign Courts.

These documents must be officially translated in to Greek, either at the Ministry in Athens , or the Greek Embassy abroad and have the Apostle stamp on the back of the document.

Usually, the whole procedure in Greece may take seven (7) to nine (9) months to be terminated. For certain occasions and only under certain circumstances , we may proceed faster and have everything finalized earlier.

Last but not least , we have to present certain documents to the Archbishop in Athens , to receive the spiritual dissolution of the marriage. Only then, the Greek persons will be declared legally divorced in Greece. This procedure is followed solely, for the Church weddings. A similar procedure is followed to the Register's office in Greece , if the marriage which took place abroad, was Civil.