Chapter IV: Legal separation

Voluntary resumption of cohabitation puts an end to legal separation. To be enforceable against third parties, it must either be recorded in a notarial deed or be the subject of a declaration to the civil registrar. A mention of this is made in the margin of the marriage certificate of the spouses, as well as in the margin of their birth certificates. The separation of property subsists unless the spouses…

At the request of one of the spouses, a judgment of legal separation is converted ipso jure into a judgment of divorce when the legal separation has lasted two years.

In all cases of legal separation, this may be converted into divorce by mutual consent. In the case of legal separation by mutual consent, conversion into divorce may only take place by mutual consent.

As a result of the conversion, the cause of the legal separation becomes the cause of the divorce; the attribution of wrongs is not altered. The judge determines the consequences of the divorce. Benefits and pensions between spouses are determined according to the rules specific to divorce.