Municipality of Arnhem: registering a divorce in the civil registry
If you got divorced in the Netherlands
If you are married and want a divorce, you need to hire a lawyer. He or she can file a petition for divorce with the court on your behalf. The court will then pronounce the divorce.
Once the ruling (order) is final, you or your lawyer will send the order to the municipality where your marriage was performed at the time. This must be done within 6 months. The municipality will then register the divorce in the civil registry.
In Arnhem, the registration is done within a few days after the documents are received by the municipality. Only after this registration is your marriage officially dissolved. The date on which the municipality receives the documents counts as the official date of your divorce.
You can find out whether your divorce has been registered via MijnOverheid.
If you got divorced outside of the Netherlands
Did you get divorced outside of the Netherlands and you live in the Netherlands? Then you must have your divorce registered in the Basisregistratie Personen – BRP (Personal Records Database). You do this at the municipality in which you are registered.
Once the municipality has received the documents, it will register the divorce as soon as possible. The divorce becomes official as soon as the municipality registers it in the civil registry.