Family law

The firm GIACCARDI & BREZZO Avocats intervenes in all issues relating to family law and private international law:

• Personal status (civil status, filiation, guardianship, adoption)

• Matrimonial regimes

• Divorce and situation of children (parental authority, residence, rights of access, alimony, maintenance contribution, international abduction)

Monegasque family law

The preponderance of foreigners in the Principality of Monaco has an impact on family law litigation, which is frequently of an international nature.

The Principality of Monaco is party to eight Hague conventions of private international law. It has recently ratified the Hague Convention of 13 January 2000 on the International Protection of Adults.

Monaco’s accession to the Council of Europe on 5 October 2004 led to changes in family law, influenced by the case law of the European Court of Human Rights.

Among the latest reforms, Law No. 1.440 of 5 December 2016 amended certain provisions of the Civil Code relating to the family name (devolution of the mother’s name, “name of use”).

Law No. 1.450 of 4 July 2017 introduced the possibility of alternating residence for the child in case of separation or divorce, and recasted the provisions relating to family mediation.

Law No. 1.448 of 28 June 2017 responds to the needs related to the internationalization of exchanges and to the diversity of the 139 nationalities on the territory of the Principality. It has created the Code of international private law (international competence of the Monegasque courts, applicable law to the status and legal capacity of natural persons, marriage, parentage and adoption, maintenance obligations).

The provisions of the IPL Code relating to adoption have been clarified by Law No. 1.470 of 17 June 2019 (conditions for consent and procedure for the forced execution of a foreign adoption decision). In parallel wih this, it substantially recast the internal rules for simple and full adoption.

Finally, Law No. 1.474 of 2 July 2019 introduced new measures for the protection of vulnerable adults (guardianship by Court Order and mandate for future protection) and expressly affirmed the fundamental principles in this field, in the wake of Recommendation No. R(99) of the Committee of Ministers to Member States of the Council of Europe on Principles concerning the legal protection of incapable adults.

It should be noted that Law n° 1.481 of 17 December 2019 introduced into the Civil Code the civil solidarity contracts (CCS) [contrats civils de solidarité], namely the common life contract (CVC) [contrat de vie commune], which recognises free union in the Principality, and the cohabitation contract (CDC) [contrat de cohabitation], which can be concluded between two members of the same family and living under the same roof.

Moreover, Law No. 1.494 of 8 July 2020 created the offence of fraudulent organisation or aggravation of insolvency, which punishes fraud resulting from the various acts of impoverishment carried out by the debtor in order to claim insolvency and thus prevent the recovery of the debt on his assets. This offence covers convictions handed down by the civil courts in matters of maintenance, court decisions and judicially approved agreements imposing an obligation to pay benefits, subsidies or contributions to the costs of the marriage.

A wide-ranging reform of civil procedure was carried out by Law No 1.511 of 2 December 2021, which updated and introduced major innovations to the organisation and operation of civil proceedings, based on Monegasque judicial practice, and in some cases inspired by French civil procedure. With regard to family law in particular, the practice of emergency placement of a minor by the public prosecutor’s office has been codified.

Finally, it may be noted that Law No 1.512 of 3 December 2021 extended from 10 to 20 years the time limit for acquiring Monegasque nationality for a foreign national who marries a Monegasque national. This new 20-year period applies to persons married as from 1 July 2022.