Family Lawyer in Cluj

What does a family lawyer do, and when do you need one?

As a family lawyer, I help you choose how to divorce, draft the agreement or the court application, come with you to the notary when you both agree, and represent you in court in cases about children and property. I think it’s worth talking to a lawyer especially when you both want the divorce but don’t agree about the children or the property. The same goes when the other parent doesn’t pay child maintenance (pensie de întreținere, pensie alimentară) or doesn’t keep to the contact schedule (program de legături personale), or when circumstances have changed and you want an older judgment changed (art. 403 of the Civil Code, Codul civil).

I’m a member of the Cluj Bar (Baroul Cluj) and I work with parents and spouses in Cluj. I know these are hard times, and I try to make things as simple as I can for you. In cases involving children, the court decides according to the best interests of the child (art. 396(1) of the Civil Code), so I also start from what is good for the child when I prepare your case. If there is violence in the family, the priority is a protection order (ordin de protecție), which is decided separately and as a matter of urgency.

What I can help you with

• Divorce: divorce by agreement (divorț prin acord) and fault-based divorce (divorț din culpă) (art. 373 of the Civil Code), and the ancillary claims (cereri accesorii) about the name, the children and the family home.
• Custody and parental authority: joint parental authority (autoritate părintească) or authority exercised by one parent alone (art. 397 and 398 of the Civil Code), the child’s residence (locuința copilului) (art. 400 of the Civil Code), the contact schedule (art. 401 of the Civil Code) and changes to these arrangements.
• Child maintenance, often called child support: the amount (art. 529 of the Civil Code), increasing or reducing it (art. 531 of the Civil Code), maintenance for an adult child still in education, up to the age of 26 (art. 499(3) of the Civil Code), and recovering arrears through enforcement (executare silită).
• Matrimonial regime and division of property: community of property (comunitate legală), separation of property (separație de bunuri) and conventional community (comunitate convențională) (art. 312 of the Civil Code), the marriage contract (convenție matrimonială), proving separate property and each spouse’s contribution (art. 340 and 357 of the Civil Code), and division of property (partaj) during the marriage (art. 358 of the Civil Code) or after divorce.

The three routes to divorce

A divorce by agreement can be granted however long you’ve been married and whether or not you have minor children (art. 374(1) of the Civil Code), by one of three routes:

• at the Cluj-Napoca registry office (Serviciul de Stare Civilă), only if you have no minor children (art. 375(1) of the Civil Code);
• at a notary (notar public), even with minor children, if you agree on everything that concerns them (art. 375(2) of the Civil Code);
• in court, when you don’t meet the conditions or the notary has rejected the application (art. 378(2) of the Civil Code).

The other grounds can only be decided in court: fault, where there are serious reasons (art. 373(b) of the Civil Code), living apart (separare în fapt) for at least 2 years (art. 373(c)) and one spouse’s state of health (art. 373(d)). The marriage ends on the date the divorce certificate is issued or, in court, on the day the judgment becomes final (art. 382 of the Civil Code).

I’ve written about each ground in Grounds for divorce in the Civil Code (in Romanian), and about the name, property and children in The effects of divorce (in Romanian).

The deadlines and steps that matter

The appeal deadline runs from the day the judgment is served on you, not from the day it is given. You can check the last day with the court deadline calculator.

How a divorce works at the Cluj-Napoca District Court

1. Looking at your case and choosing the route. I read the documents and we decide together whether you can go to a notary or need the court, which ancillary claims to make and what evidence we have.
2. The divorce application. It’s filed at the district court for the spouses’ last shared home or, if neither of you still lives there, at the court for the home of the respondent (pârât) (art. 915(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure), with the marriage certificate and the children’s birth certificates (art. 916 of the Code of Civil Procedure). In a divorce by agreement, both spouses sign it (art. 930(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure).
3. Appearing in person. At first instance, you both have to appear in person, apart from the exceptions set by law, and the court tries to reconcile you at every hearing (art. 921 of the Code of Civil Procedure). When there are children, it orders a psychosocial inquiry report (raport de anchetă psihosocială) and hears any child who has turned 10 (art. 396 and 264 of the Civil Code).
4. The evidence. In a fault-based divorce, the evidence is documents, witnesses and questions put to the other spouse (interogatoriu). The court grants the divorce with the respondent at fault or both of you at fault, or dismisses the application if only the applicant is at fault (art. 934 of the Code of Civil Procedure).
5. The judgment and the appeal. In the same judgment the court decides on parental authority, the children’s residence, each parent’s contribution and the name (art. 919(2) and (3) of the Code of Civil Procedure); if both spouses ask, the judgment is given without written reasons (art. 927 of the Code of Civil Procedure). The appeal is heard by the Cluj Tribunal.

As a rough guide, a divorce at a notary takes at least 30 days, the length of the reflection period; in court, a divorce with children and evidence to hear usually takes several months. The steps and the common mistakes are in The divorce procedure in court (in Romanian).

What the court can order

In the divorce judgment, the district court, acting as guardianship court (instanța de tutelă), rules on everything concerning the minor children (art. 396 of the Civil Code). It decides who exercises parental authority: both parents, which is the rule (art. 397 of the Civil Code), or one parent alone, which is the exception and needs well-founded reasons (art. 398 of the Civil Code). It also sets the child’s residence (art. 400 of the Civil Code), the contact schedule (art. 401 of the Civil Code) and each parent’s contribution to the costs of raising and educating the child (art. 402 of the Civil Code), within the limits in art. 529 of the Civil Code.

For the two of you, the court records the name each of you will use; if you don’t choose, you each keep your married name (art. 383 of the Civil Code, as worded by Law no. 57/2026). It can give one spouse the benefit of the lease on the family home (art. 324 of the Civil Code) and award damages to the spouse who isn’t at fault (art. 388 of the Civil Code). It can also set maintenance between the former spouses, which a spouse solely at fault receives for one year at most (art. 389 of the Civil Code), or, after a marriage of at least 20 years ended with the respondent solely at fault, a compensatory payment (prestație compensatorie) (art. 390 of the Civil Code). The matrimonial regime (regim matrimonial) ends between you on the date the divorce application is filed or, on request, on the date you separated (art. 385 of the Civil Code).

When a parent puts the child’s life, health or development at risk, the court can deprive that parent of the exercise of parental rights (decădere din exercițiul drepturilor părintești) (art. 508 of the Civil Code). I’ve written about this in Loss of parental rights (in Romanian), and about what parental authority involves in Parental authority: what it means and how it is exercised (in Romanian).

What it costs

The court stamp duty (taxă judiciară de timbru) for a divorce application is 200 lei for a divorce by agreement, a fault-based divorce or a divorce after living apart (art. 373(a)-(c) of the Civil Code) and 50 lei for a divorce on health grounds (art. 373(d)), under art. 15 of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 80/2013 (OUG 80/2013), as amended by Law no. 268/2024. For the other claims:

• claims about the children filed separately from the divorce: 20 lei each (art. 15(d) of OUG 80/2013);
• claims about the legal maintenance obligation: exempt (art. 29(1)(c) of OUG 80/2013);
• division of property in court: half of the duty under art. 3(1), calculated on the value of the property to be divided (art. 5(1) of OUG 80/2013, as amended by Law no. 268/2024).

The notary and the registry office charge their own rates. You’ll know my fee before I start, and we put it in the contract (how the fee is set). For a first estimate, try the stamp duty calculator, the child maintenance calculator and the child-raising allowance calculator.

How I work

1. You tell me briefly what’s happening and send me the marriage certificate, the children’s birth certificates and any earlier judgment or agreement.
2. I tell you plainly which routes the law gives you both, what you can and can’t get from the court, and what each option costs.
3. If you both agree, I draft the agreement and come with you to a notary in Cluj, or we file for divorce by agreement at the district court. If you don’t, we prepare the application, the evidence and the ancillary claims.
4. I represent you at the Cluj-Napoca District Court (Judecătoria Cluj-Napoca) and, on appeal, at the Cluj Tribunal, and after the judgment I help you enforce it.

The consolidated text of the Civil Code is on legislatie.just.ro. You don’t need to have everything worked out before we start: you can write to me with just the question that’s on your mind. If you have a family law matter in Cluj, get in touch.