The first official divorce in the Netherlands took place in Maastricht. On September 15, 1796, Agatha Lenaerts came to the registrar in the morning to divorce her husband Wilhelmus Meers. Because Wilhelmus did not show up to plead his case, Agatha got her way. The care for the children was divided equally: Agatha took care of the daughters, Wilhelmus for the sons. Agatha and Wilhelmus went to live together again at the end of their lives. After Wilhelmus’ death, Agatha even called herself his widow. During the French occupation, in 1795 the French introduced very modern legislation for that time, which was very revolutionary with regard to the dissolution of marriages. They believed that couples should be able to divorce. This could be done by mutual consent or because one of the partners felt that the characters were incompatible.
Provable adultery
Until then, divorce was only possible if there was evidence of adultery. In practice, provable meant that one of the partners had a child with another. The judge therefore regularly granted legal separation. Until 1560 the only way to divorce. It meant that the marriage was not dissolved but that the partners could continue to live separately. Remarriage was thus not possible.
More liberal
The Catholic Church was powerful and was very clear about this: people could not dissolve what was bound together by God. While the Catholics were strict, the Reformed were more liberal. They believed that people should be able to divorce if there was adultery, so the legislation changed in 1560. Centuries later, under the French occupation, the rules became even more liberal. They severed every connection between faith and law. According to them, the church had nothing to do with the marriage between two citizens.
Allowance
Women often received a financial grant from the church. Since in most families both partners worked, the women usually already had a source of income, but this financial support was important.
To wind back
The French would partially reverse their liberal legislation from 1795 a few years later. The influence of the Catholic Church was still great. In 1811, the new Civil Code made divorce much more difficult. All kinds of restrictions were introduced. For example, the man had to be at least 25 years old and the woman 21. Moreover, the woman could not be older than 45.
Dutch Civil Code
In 1838, after the French had long since left, the Dutch Civil Code was introduced. It was no longer possible to divorce by mutual consent. However, two new grounds were added: divorce was also allowed when one of the partners was in prison or when there had been abuse.
The Supreme Court ruled in 1883 that a dissolution of the marriage was also possible if there was a confession of adultery. So the adulterous partner no longer had to be caught. That opened doors for partners who wanted a divorce and had no problem putting on a play. From now on, people could get divorced by feigning an extramarital relationship. Which happened. However, the so-called adulterer was then not entitled to financial compensation or alimony.
60’s
This was the practice for a long time, but in the 1960s the number of divorces increased rapidly. And the church increasingly lost its grip on society. Only from 1971 onwards could one or both partners request a divorce on the grounds of irretrievable disruption. That broad concept made it possible to separate different reasons as we know them today: there is no more love, do not fit together, no compatibility of characters, etc.
Church
If you were married not only before the state but also before the Catholic Church, divorce remained virtually impossible for the church. Being civilly divorced did not mean that you were divorced before the church. What God has joined, man cannot loose, according to the church. Remarriage in church was therefore absolutely impossible. That still applies to this day.
Explosion
After the revision of divorce law in 1971, the number of divorces exploded. In 1969, 9,000 couples separated, in 1972 this rose to 15,000. About 35,000 couples now divorce each year. The welfare mother also became a household name. When the man (often the breadwinner) did not want to pay alimony, the woman often appealed to the General Assistance Act.
Flash separation
Between 2001 and 2009, divorce was also possible without court intervention. During a so-called flash divorce, the marriage was administratively converted into a registered partnership, which was then dissolved again. But that is no longer possible. Partly because this form of divorce was not recognized abroad.