A Moroccan court imposes a divorce in France

The couple had married on 30 June 2001 in Figuig, Morocco. The wife held French and Moroccan nationality, while her husband was Moroccan. Both were residing in France when their separation led to two parallel proceedings.

On Bladi.net : Moroccan Divorce Recognition France Civil Status

On 9 March 2018, the wife first applied to the family court in Bobigny for a divorce. Just over four months later, on 17 July 2018, her husband initiated another proceeding before the Moroccan courts.

The Figuig court of first instance pronounced their divorce on 24 December 2019. The husband then asked the French courts to recognize the judgment so that it could take effect in France.

His wife opposed the request. She argued that she had applied to the French court before her husband and that the couple’s habitual residence was in France.

In January 2024, the Paris Court of Appeal had ruled in her favor. It had refused to recognize the Moroccan divorce, considering that the French judge, who had been seised first, had sole jurisdiction to rule on the separation.

The court seised first does not always prevail

The Court of Cassation has just overturned that reasoning. It noted that both spouses held Moroccan nationality. Under the conventions concluded between France and Morocco, the Moroccan courts could therefore also have jurisdiction to pronounce their divorce, even though the couple lived in France.

When proceedings concerning the same divorce have already been initiated in one of the two countries, the court seised second should normally suspend its decision. In this case, the Moroccan judge should therefore have taken into account the proceedings previously begun in France.

However, failure to comply with this rule does not, in itself, make it possible to deny all effect to the Moroccan judgment. The fact that the wife had filed her application in France four months before her husband was therefore not enough automatically to set aside the divorce pronounced in Figuig.

In its ruling of 25 March 2026, the Court of Cassation specified that a Moroccan divorce must be recognized in France if it meets the other conditions laid down by the Franco-Moroccan conventions: jurisdiction of the court, proper summons of the parties, a final judgment, and the absence of any conflict with public policy or with a French decision that has acquired the force of res judicata.

The Court of Cassation did not itself make the Moroccan divorce immediately applicable in France, however. It annulled the decision of the Paris Court of Appeal and referred the case to the Versailles Court of Appeal, which will have to verify whether all the conditions for recognition have been met.

On Bladi.net : article 108433

The ruling nevertheless establishes an important principle for Franco-Moroccan couples: starting divorce proceedings in France does not guarantee that the French judgment will prevail. A divorce subsequently pronounced in Morocco may still be recognized, particularly when both spouses hold Moroccan nationality.