What is habitual residence?

Although efforts have been made to make the law surrounding divorce and custody disputes, more ‘user friendly’ there are still some terms which can remain a bit of a mystery to non-lawyers!

One of those terms is habitual residence. It crops up both in divorce proceedings and in child arrangements proceedings. The issue behind the term is ensuring that the Family Courts of England and Wales are the correct courts to determine the Application. For them to be the correct court, it is usually the case that one of the parties (in the case of the divorce) or the child of the family (in the case of custody) must be habitually resident here.

To prove habitual residence you need to show that you live in England. You can demonstrate this by having your home address here, by working here and by your day to day life happening in England.   Temporary absences for holidays or short-term work contracts are unlikely to affect your habitual residence. habitual residence status as you can only have one place of habitual residence at any one time.

It is vital to ensure that you secure a court in the country where you are most likely to get a beneficial outcome. If there is a possibility that your ex-partner could issue court proceedings in another country, then you should make enquiries as soon as possible to find out whether they would get a better deal in that jurisdiction and if so, you should get your Court Application in as quickly as possible!

Contact us if you are looking for specialist advice, delivered refreshingly free of legal jargon, on any aspect of divorce and family law.