Family · Guide
Divorce across two countries
A divorce obtained in one country does not change your records in the other by itself. Have it recognised there before you remarry.
These pages describe the law in force in October 2026: the Family Code of 2004 and the Nationality Code. The reform of the Family Code announced in December 2024 has not been voted. They inform you. For your own case, see a lawyer, an adoul or a notary.
Key facts
- Morocco accepts a divorce decided by a foreign court if that court had jurisdiction and the grounds do not contradict those of the Family Code (article 128).
- Since 24 August 2026 a new Code of Civil Procedure (law 58.25) governs foreign judgments, in articles 451 to 456. A foreign judgment is enforced in Morocco only after a Moroccan court grants enforceability, the exequatur.
- The Moroccan court checks that both spouses were properly called and represented abroad, that the judgment is final there, that it does not clash with a Moroccan judgment, and that it respects Moroccan public policy.
- New in 2026: the court also looks at whether the country that gave the judgment treats Moroccan judgments the same way (reciprocity). This test has no track record yet.
- Deeds made abroad before a competent official, not only court judgments, can be made enforceable.
- For civil status only, a 2016 circular of four ministries lets final foreign divorce decisions be noted without exequatur, unless they contain financial commitments or offend public policy, according to Médias24. Other official sources say a court order is always needed. Practice differs.
- French divorce by mutual consent without a judge: a 2019 circular of the Interior Ministry favours noting it in Moroccan registers without exequatur, according to a French legal journal. This rests on a circular, not on a law.
- Until the divorce is noted on your Moroccan birth record, you are still married in Moroccan registers. That blocks remarriage in Morocco and confuses inheritance.
- You do not need to travel: a lawyer in Morocco can act with a power of attorney legalised at the consulate.
- The other way round, a Moroccan divorce must be recognised or noted in your country of residence before it counts there. Each country has its own procedure: see below.
Steps
- Get the complete foreign judgment and proof that it is final in the country that gave it.
- Ask your consulate, or the civil status office of your place of birth, whether the divorce can be noted directly or whether they want a Moroccan court order first.
- If a court order is needed, or if you must enforce money or custody decisions in Morocco, have a lawyer apply for enforceability under the new procedure code.
- Have all the papers translated into Arabic by a sworn translator.
- Once it is accepted, have the divorce noted on your birth record, and check by ordering a fresh copy.
What to bring
- The foreign divorce judgment, original and copy
- Proof that it is final and can no longer be appealed
- Proof that both spouses were properly called to the proceedings, for example the proof of service
- The marriage deed or certificate
- Your CNIE or passport, and your consular registration
- Sworn Arabic translations
- The exact list is now set by article 454 of the new code, which we could not read. Have your lawyer or the court registry confirm it.
Watch out
- Do not remarry on the strength of a divorce that the other country has not yet recognised.
- Before 24 August 2026, the president of the court of first instance ruled on foreign divorces within one week. We could not confirm that the new code keeps this. Ask your lawyer which court and which time limits apply now.
- A foreign custody order is not carried out in Morocco automatically. It also needs the exequatur.
- Living in Europe? A talaq obtained by the husband alone in Morocco may be refused there. French and Belgian sources treat a divorce by agreement or for discord differently.
- If cases are started in both countries: between France and Morocco, the court seized second must wait. For other countries the new Moroccan code has no detailed rule, according to a specialist's review.
Official sources
consulat.maadala.justice.gov.madiplomatie.gouv.fr (FR-MA 1981)justice.fr (FR)justiz.sachsen.de (DE)legislation.gov.uk (GB)justice.gc.ca (CA)
Checked: October 2026. Independent guide, not a government site. Rules change: confirm on the official page before you act.
A Moroccan divorce in the country where you live
- France
- Under the France-Morocco convention of 1981, a final Moroccan divorce can be noted in French registers without exequatur. Send a request to check it (vérification d'opposabilité), with French translations, to the public prosecutor of the place of marriage, or of Nantes if the marriage took place abroad. The prosecutor refuses a repudiation. The Cour de cassation accepted the Moroccan divorce by agreement in 2014.
- Belgium
- A foreign divorce judgment is recognised without a special procedure if it passes the legal checks. A divorce by the husband's will alone is refused unless strict conditions are met, including the wife's free and clear acceptance.
- Netherlands
- A divorce obtained after proper proceedings before a competent authority is recognised. One made by one spouse's declaration is recognised only if the other clearly agreed or accepted it.
- Germany
- You file a formal request for recognition (section 107 FamFG) with the justice authority of your Land, with the originals and translations by a translator admitted in Germany.
- Spain
- A divorce judgment from outside the European Union must go through the exequatur procedure of law 29/2015 before the civil registry relies on it. Moroccan documents need an apostille and a sworn translation.
- Italy
- Recognition is asked under article 64 of law 218/1995. The consular forms ask for the judgment in the original and in Italian, and for the date it became final.
- United Kingdom
- A divorce obtained abroad through proceedings is recognised if it is effective where it was obtained and one spouse lived there, was domiciled there or was a national of that country.
- Canada
- A foreign divorce is recognised if either spouse lived in that country for at least one year just before the proceedings started.
Mixed couples: which court, which law
- In a Moroccan court
- The court applies the Family Code as soon as one spouse is Moroccan, even with a second nationality.
- France and Morocco
- If you both have the same nationality, the law of that country governs the divorce. If not, it is the law of the country of your shared home, or of your last shared home. The courts of that country can decide. If you both have the nationality of one of the two countries, so can its courts.
- A spouse abroad sued in Morocco
- Since August 2026, Moroccan courts can hear the case when the marriage deed was made in Morocco, when the spouse who files is Moroccan, or when the spouse who is sued is a Moroccan national.