Limits of jurisdiction for divorce under the Brussels IIa Regulation from the Czech perspective

Jurisdiction for divorce in a marriage with an international element is in the Czech Republic governed primarily by “the Brussels IIa Regulation”. There are, however, other legal sources on which Czech courts can base their jurisdiction. When a national court is seized with a cross-border divorce case, the first step is to establish or decline the jurisdiction. In purely intra-EU cases, the Brussels IIa Regulation is the only legal instrument that comes into play. If the case involves a third State, the jurisdiction can be based on rules contained in a specific bilateral international agreement or, the provision for residual jurisdiction in the Brussels IIa Regulation permitting, on the rules in the national legislation of private international law. Complex situations can occur, especially when the case presents several international elements, some related to EU Member State(s) and the others related to the third State(s). The jurisprudence developed by the CJEU to interpret the Brussels IIa Regulation is shedding light on some provisions thereof, although there are still several questions waiting to be answered, one of them being the autonomous EU interpretation of the term “marriage” in the context of the scope of the Regulation.