Federal Act
on Private International Law
(PILA)

¹ A for­eign de­cree of di­vorce or sep­ar­a­tion is re­cog­nised in Switzer­land if:

a.

it was is­sued in the state of dom­i­cile or ha­bitu­al res­id­ence, or in the state of cit­izen­ship of either spouse;

b.

it is re­cog­nised in any of the states in­dic­ated in let­ter a; or

c.

it was is­sued in the state where the mar­riage was cel­eb­rated and the ac­tion can­not or can­not reas­on­ably be ex­pec­ted to be brought in either of the states in­dic­ated in let­ter a.⁴³

² However, a de­cree that was is­sued in a state of which neither spouse or only the plaintiff spouse is a cit­izen is re­cog­nised in Switzer­land only:

a.

if, at the time of fil­ing the ac­tion, at least one of the spouses was dom­i­ciled or had his or her ha­bitu­al res­id­ence in that state and the de­fend­ant spouse was not dom­i­ciled in Switzer­land;

b.

if the de­fend­ant spouse sub­mit­ted to the jur­is­dic­tion of the for­eign court without re­ser­va­tion; or

c.

if the de­fend­ant spouse ex­pressly con­sents to re­cog­ni­tion of the de­cree in Switzer­land.