SPANISH FAMILY LAW: Is it possible to change a divorce court order and agreement?

Posted on by Carlos Baos
Some weeks ago, we received from the First Instance Court No.2 of Molina del Segura, in Murcia, a court order agreeing with our petition and defence. The ruling was that the economic agreement reached by the ex-spouses (an English man and a Spanish woman) in their divorce in the United Kingdom should not be changed.


The former wife of my client, an English man, petitioned to change the previous divorce agreement, due to her difficult economic situation.

In her claim she asked for the costs of the children’s trips to see their father in England during holidays, be paid now by the father, although in the divorce agreement it was agreed that she would pay for them.

This kind of legal action is known in Spanish Family Law as a modification of divorce or separation measures.

The basis of these kind of legal actions, is article number 91 of the Spanish Civil Code, which states that in the court’s separation orders, the judge must decide the following measures: children, family home, charges and debts of the marriage, and liquidation of the matrimonial economic regime, etc. They also state that these measures could be modified if the circumstances changed substantially.

This was the key to the above court case. We argued in our conclusion in the hearing that the claimant did not provide proof of the substantial change in her circumstances. Nor was evidence provided to the court about her income and economic situation at the time of the divorce, or any major change in her circumstances now that would justify the revision and modification of the divorce agreement.

Therefore, readers should remember that if they are divorced or separated, their court order it is not definitive since by definition, in Spanish family law all divorce and separation court orders could be changed and reviewed if it is proven that there are substantial changes to the circumstances.


If you have a family law problem, if you want to get divorced or separated, or if you want to review your divorce or separation court order because your circumstances are different now, we can assist you.