CHAPTER IIU.K. JURISDICTION IN MATRIMONIAL MATTERS AND IN MATTERS OF PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

SECTION 1 U.K. Divorce, legal separation and marriage annulment

Article 3U.K.General jurisdiction

In matters relating to divorce, legal separation or marriage annulment, jurisdiction shall lie with the courts of the Member State:

(a)

in whose territory:

(i)

the spouses are habitually resident,

(ii)

the spouses were last habitually resident, insofar as one of them still resides there,

(iii)

the respondent is habitually resident,

(iv)

in the event of a joint application, either of the spouses is habitually resident,

(v)

the applicant is habitually resident if he or she resided there for at least a year immediately before the application was made, or

(vi)

the applicant is habitually resident if he or she resided there for at least six months immediately before the application was made and is a national of the Member State in question; or

(b)

of the nationality of both spouses.

Article 4U.K.Counterclaim

The court before which proceedings are pending on the basis of Article 3 shall also have jurisdiction to examine a counterclaim, insofar as that counterclaim falls within the scope of this Regulation.

Article 5U.K.Conversion of legal separation to divorce

Without prejudice to Article 3, a court of a Member State that has given a decision granting a legal separation shall also have jurisdiction to convert that legal separation to a divorce, if the law of that Member State so provides.

Article 6U.K.Residual jurisdiction

1.Subject to paragraph 2, where no court of a Member State has jurisdiction pursuant to Article 3, 4 or 5, jurisdiction shall be determined, in each Member State, by the laws of that State.

2.A spouse who is habitually resident in the territory of a Member State; or a national of a Member State, may be sued in another Member State only in accordance with Articles 3, 4 and 5.

3.As against a respondent who is not habitually resident in and is not a national of a Member State, any national of a Member State who is habitually resident within the territory of another Member State may, like the nationals of that State, avail himself of the rules of jurisdiction applicable in that State.