You and your partner have decided to end the relationship and agree on everything (custody, assets, maintenance), or you can’t agree on anything and need a judge to decide. Both situations follow a different procedural route, and choosing the right one from the start saves time, money and emotional strain.

• Uncontested (mutual agreement) divorce (Art. 777 Civil Procedure Act): when both spouses agree on every aspect in a settlement agreement. This is the fastest and cheapest procedure.
• Contested divorce (Art. 770 Civil Procedure Act): when there is no agreement and the court must rule on custody, maintenance, use of the family home or division of assets.
• Legal separation, as an alternative to divorce when the marriage bond is to be kept for personal, religious or other reasons.
• Break-up of unmarried couples, with the same practical effects regarding children and finances, even though no civil divorce is required.
• Negotiating and drafting the settlement agreement (Art. 233-2 Catalan Civil Code).

You’re separating and don’t know how to organise things with your children: who will live with them, how weekends and holidays will be split, or whether a week-on/week-off arrangement makes more sense. Custody determines not only who the children live with, but also how important decisions about their life are made.

• Joint custody (Art. 233-10 Catalan Civil Code): the preferred arrangement under Catalan law, sharing living time between both parents.
• Sole custody, when the circumstances of the case (distance, availability, conflict) make joint custody inadvisable.
• Parenting plan (Arts. 233-9 and 233-10 Catalan Civil Code): a document setting out how the parents will jointly exercise parental responsibilities.
• Visitation arrangements for the non-custodial parent, and measures in case of non-compliance.
• Modifying custody when the initial circumstances have substantially changed.

Your children’s other parent isn’t paying the agreed maintenance, or you want to know how much you’d have to pay or would be entitled to receive if you separated. Maintenance is calculated based on each parent’s income and the children’s actual needs, and can be reviewed if the financial situation changes.

• Child maintenance (Arts. 237-1 et seq. Catalan Civil Code and Art. 142 et seq. Civil Code): ordinary expenses (food, housing, education, healthcare) and extraordinary expenses.
• Spousal (compensatory) maintenance for the spouse left in a worse financial position after the breakup (Art. 233-14 Catalan Civil Code).
• Enforcement for non-payment of maintenance, including the possibility of a criminal complaint under Art. 227 of the Criminal Code in serious cases.
• Requesting a review of maintenance (upward or downward) when there is a substantial change in circumstances.

Years have passed since your divorce or separation, and circumstances have changed: someone has lost their job, another child has been born, one parent has had to relocate for work, or the children are now older and the visitation arrangement no longer makes sense as originally agreed. A settlement agreement isn’t set in stone: it can, and often should, be modified.

• Mutually agreed modification of measures, when both parties agree to the change (a faster procedure, similar to uncontested divorce).
• Contested modification of measures (Art. 775 Civil Procedure Act), when there is no agreement and the court must decide.
• Most common cases: change of custody, updating child maintenance, or modifying visitation arrangements or use of the family home.
• General requirement: proving a substantial and unforeseen change in the circumstances considered in the original agreement.