A marriage can be dissolved in Lithuania whatever passports you hold and wherever it was contracted. Book III of the Civil Code gives three grounds — mutual consent, one spouse's application, and one spouse's fault — and since 1 January 2023 a fourth door: a couple who agree, have no minor children together and have lived apart more than a year can dissolve the marriage at a notary, with no court at all. The court is the route for everyone else, and for mutual consent or one spouse's application the Civil Procedure Code charges no state fee.
The divorce itself is the short part. Property, children and — for a foreigner whose permit was issued to live with the spouse — immigration status are where the money and the risk sit.
Table of Contents
The Routes, and Which Is Yours
Article 3.49 of the Civil Code ends a marriage by death or by dissolution, and the manner depends on two questions: whether you both agree, and whether there are children under 18.
| Route | Conditions | Where | State fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notary, mutual consent | Married >1 year; an agreement on the consequences; both fully capable; no common household for >1 year; no minor children | Any notary | None — a notary's fee instead, from €120 plus VAT |
| Court, mutual consent (art. 3.51) | Married >1 year; an agreement on the consequences; both fully capable | District court, either spouse's residence | ✓ Exempt, CPK art. 83(1)(12) |
| Court, on one spouse's application (art. 3.55) | Separated >1 year, or the other spouse declared incapable or missing, or sentenced to >1 year for an unintentional crime | District court, applicant's residence | ✓ Exempt, CPK art. 83(1)(12) |
| Court, on the fault of a spouse (art. 3.60) | A substantial breach of marital duties that made life together impossible | District court of the respondent's residence, or the claimant's where the minor children live there | €100, €75 filed electronically |
The notary's five conditions are cumulative: a couple who agree on everything but have a child under 18 go to court, and so does a couple who separated six months ago. The court's consensual route needs only the first three, so a couple with children who agree on maintenance, residence and property has a short case. Anything you cannot agree is a claim, decided by the district court — the apylinkės teismas — on evidence.
Divorce at a Notary
Since 1 January 2023 a notary can dissolve a marriage by certifying the spouses' agreement on its consequences — the Civil Code's conditions for mutual consent plus two more.
Check the five conditions
More than 1 year since the marriage; a joint written agreement on the consequences; both spouses fully capable; more than 1 year without a common household, confirmed in writing; no common minor children.
Bring the marriage record
The certificate or an extract of the record. A marriage registered abroad must first be entered in the Lithuanian civil register — the įtraukimas į apskaitą the marriage page describes.
Sign the agreement on the consequences
Property and debts, maintenance between the spouses if any, and the surnames each will use. Certification costs €120 with no property to divide, or 0.17% of the value divided, between €72 and €2,500, plus €10 for the joint application and 21% VAT.
Creditors get thirty days
Creditors are notified and have 30 days to object — what pushes a notarial divorce with a mortgage past a month.
The marriage ends the next working day
The agreement takes effect on the working day after certification and the marriage ends that day. The notary sends it to the civil registry office by the following day, and to the Register of Marriage Contracts and the Real Property Register where property rights change.
The notary may propose a reconciliation period of up to 6 months before certifying, as a court may, and does not re-register vehicles, weapons or anything else held in another register.
The property fee is the number to check first. The 0.17% is charged on the total value divided, not on the share that changes hands: a jointly owned flat worth €200,000 split evenly is €340 plus VAT, while a couple already holding everything separately pay €120. Government resolution No. 498 of 28 June 2023 sets the list.
Divorce Through the Court
By mutual consent. A joint application under article 3.51 with the agreement attached. Article 3.53 makes the court approve that agreement, which must settle maintenance of the minor children and of each other, where the children will live, how the other parent takes part in their upbringing, and the division of property; terms breaching public order or a child's or spouse's interests are refused, and unfixed, the marriage is not dissolved. Article 539 lists what the application states. The Migration Information Centre puts a court case at 3 to 4 weeks.
On one spouse's application. Article 3.55 allows one spouse to apply without the other's consent and without proving fault, where they have been separated more than 1 year, or the other spouse has been declared incapable or missing, or is serving more than 1 year for an unintentional crime. Article 3.56 requires the ground and the settlement of consequences to be stated. No state fee.
On the fault of a spouse. Article 3.60 lets one spouse claim dissolution where the other substantially breached the duties of marriage, presuming fault on conviction of an intentional crime, infidelity, cruelty, or abandonment for more than a year. Article 3.61 lets the court find both at fault; article 3.70 makes the spouse at fault lose the rights the law gives a divorced spouse, maintenance included. A contested claim, with a state fee and no fixed term.
Reconciliation and the end date. Article 3.54 requires the court to try to reconcile the spouses and lets it adjourn up to 6 months. Under article 3.66 the marriage ends the day the judgment becomes final — 30 days after it is handed down if nobody appeals — and a copy goes to the civil registry office within 3 working days.
Neither of you has to be in Lithuania for the consensual route: spouses abroad file through a representative under a power of attorney.
State Fees and What a Divorce Costs
The state fee — žyminis mokestis — is set by article 80 of the Civil Procedure Code, the exemptions by article 83.
| Claim | Fee | Code article |
|---|---|---|
| Dissolution by mutual consent | ✓ Exempt | Art. 83(1)(12) |
| Application by one spouse | ✓ Exempt | Art. 83(1)(12) |
| Dissolution on fault, a non-property claim | €100; €75 filed only electronically | Art. 80(1), 80(7) |
| Division of property, up to €30,000 | 3% of the value claimed, at least €20 | Art. 80(1)(1) |
| Property, €30,000 to €100,000 | €900 plus 2% of the excess | Art. 80(1)(1) |
| Property, over €100,000 | €2,300 plus 1% of the excess, capped at €15,000 | Art. 80(1)(1) |
| Child maintenance | ✓ Claimant exempt | Art. 83(1)(2) |
The Supreme Court treats the dissolution as one non-property claim and a demand to divide property inside the same case as a separate property claim, with its own fee on the value in dispute. A contested divorce over a flat is priced by the flat, not by the marriage.
Children and Maintenance
Both parents keep parental authority. What the court settles — or the agreement fixes and the court approves — is with which parent the child lives, how the other parent takes part in the upbringing and sees the child, and the maintenance.
Article 3.192 obliges both parents to maintain their minor children in proportion to the children's needs and the parents' means. Article 3.196 gives the forms — periodic monthly payments, a lump sum, or property assigned to the child. A parent who cannot agree applies to the court, where the state child rights protection service gives an opinion, and pays no state fee under article 83(1)(2).
The floor the courts apply. The Civil Code sets no figure. The Supreme Court's practice treats one minimum monthly wage a month per child, from both parents together, as the orientation figure — half from each parent. With the 2026 MMA at €1,153, that is €576.50 a month each. It is an orientation, not a statutory minimum: courts depart from it either way on the child's needs and the parents' means, and an award does not rise with the minimum wage on its own.
The duty runs until the child is 18, extended to an adult child in full-time education up to 24. Where a parent lives abroad, the EU maintenance regulation, No. 4/2009, makes a Lithuanian order enforceable in the other member state, and the reverse.
Residence, not custody. The court fixes the child's place of residence with one parent — gyvenamosios vietos nustatymas — and contact with the other; both remain legal representatives. Taking a child abroad against the other parent's wishes is a Hague Abduction Convention and Brussels II ter question, not something the judgment settles by silence.
Divorce and a Residence Permit
A temporary permit under article 43(1)(5) of the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens — the family-reunification permit for the spouse of a Lithuanian citizen or of a foreigner residing here, described on the marriage page — rests on the marriage. Article 50(1) lists dissolution among the grounds for withdrawing a temporary permit, and the Migration Information Centre says so plainly: such a permit may be withdrawn when the marriage ends.
The law offers three ways to stay, each a new application rather than a continuation.
| Ground | Article | What it needs |
|---|---|---|
| Particularly difficult circumstances connected with the divorce | Art. 43(1)(8) | A family-reunification permit may be issued where particularly difficult circumstances arise from the dissolution or a family member's death; the Migration Department assesses them |
| A child who is a Lithuanian citizen | Art. 43(1)(3) | The foreigner's child, a citizen of Lithuania, lives in Lithuania |
| Any other ground in article 40 | Art. 40(1) | Employment, a Blue Card, a business, studies — each on its own conditions and its own €160 fee; see the residence permit page |
A permanent permit, and EU long-term resident status after five years, does not depend on the marriage and survives the divorce — as does the residence card of an EU citizen's family member where the free-movement directive's retention conditions are met.
The register is where a divorce becomes visible to everyone else. The Migration Department, Sodra, a bank and the Real Property Register all read civil status from it. A court sends its judgment there and a notary the agreement, but a foreign divorce goes there only if one of you takes it — until then Lithuanian institutions treat the marriage as continuing.
Sequence the permit before the judgment, not after
The consensual routes are quick, and the dissolution takes effect on a date the spouses largely control. The ground for withdrawal is the dissolution itself, so a spouse who will need a work-based permit instead should have the employer's offer and the new application ready before the judgment becomes final.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can two foreigners divorce in Lithuania?
Yes. Under Brussels II ter a Lithuanian court has jurisdiction where the spouses are habitually resident here, last lived together here and one still does, where the respondent lives here, or where the applicant has lived here a year — whatever their nationality. Rome III then applies the law of their habitual residence unless they chose another. The notary route is open on the same terms, once the foreign marriage is entered in the Lithuanian civil register.
How much does a divorce cost?
At a notary: €120 for the agreement with no property to divide, or 0.17% of the value divided, between €72 and €2,500, plus €10 for the joint application and 21% VAT. Through the court by consent or on one spouse's application: no state fee, article 83(1)(12). A fault claim: €100, or €75 electronically, plus the property scale on anything in dispute.
How long does it take?
At a notary the agreement takes effect the working day after certification, though creditors get 30 days to object first. A consensual court case runs 3 to 4 weeks and becomes final 30 days later if nobody appeals. Either can be extended by up to 6 months for reconciliation. A contested case has no fixed term.
When can a notary dissolve the marriage?
When all five conditions are met: more than 1 year since the marriage, a joint written agreement, both spouses fully capable, more than 1 year without a common household, and no common minor children. A child under 18, or a shorter separation, sends the couple to the district court — still free of the state fee.
Do we both have to attend court?
For the consensual route the court decides on the papers, and spouses abroad file through a representative under a power of attorney. A contested case is heard at hearings. The notary route needs both spouses' signatures.
We married abroad. Does that change anything?
For the notary route, yes: the marriage must first be entered in the Lithuanian civil register — the foreign certificate legalised with an apostille unless it is from an EU state, translated unless a multilingual standard form is attached, filed with a civil registry office. The court routes are otherwise the same, and a Lithuanian notary affixes the apostille for recognition back home.
How is property divided?
Without a marriage contract, article 3.87 makes everything acquired by either spouse after the marriage joint community property, whichever name it is in — article 3.88 includes income from work and business, non-personal pensions and benefits, and a business started after the marriage — and article 3.117 presumes equal shares. Property brought into the marriage, inherited or received as a gift, and items of personal use stay personal under article 3.89. The divorce affects property from the date the case is filed, article 3.67. Debts follow the same logic: what was taken on for the family binds the joint property, a purely personal debt does not. Lithuania does not apply the EU matrimonial property regulation, so a couple with assets abroad should take advice before signing the agreement.
What is the minimum child maintenance?
The Civil Code sets none. The Supreme Court's practice treats one minimum monthly wage a month per child, from both parents together, as the orientation figure — half from each. With the 2026 minimum wage at €1,153, that is €576.50 a month from each parent. Courts depart from it on the child's needs and the parents' means, and an award does not rise with the minimum wage on its own. No state fee.
Can I claim maintenance from my former spouse?
Article 3.72 lets the court award it to a former spouse in need where the agreement has not settled the question, presuming need where that spouse is raising a common minor child or cannot work for age or health. It may be a lump sum, periodic payments or property, and ends on remarriage. A spouse found at fault has no right to it under article 3.70.
My residence permit was issued to live with my spouse. What happens to it?
A temporary permit under article 43(1)(5) of the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens rests on the marriage, and article 50(1) lists dissolution among the grounds for withdrawing one. Other grounds need a fresh application: particularly difficult circumstances connected with the divorce, article 43(1)(8); a child who is a Lithuanian citizen, article 43(1)(3); or any article 40 ground such as employment. A permanent permit and EU long-term resident status are unaffected.
Will my divorce be recognised in my home country?
In another EU member state automatically, under article 30 of Brussels II ter, with the certificate the court issues alongside the judgment. Outside the EU the receiving state's rules decide, on the final judgment or the notarial agreement with an apostille. A foreign divorce coming the other way is recognised here without procedure if it is from an EU state, and through the Court of Appeal if it is not.
Can I go back to my previous surname?
Yes. The application to the court, or the agreement at the notary, states the surname each spouse will use, and either may keep the married name or return to the previous one. The choice is recorded with the divorce, and a passport or permit card in the old name is replaced with the issuing authority.