Family law

The Civil Code (Book I - Persons) governs civil status documents (birth, marriage, death), names ("names of use", forenames, nicknames and pseudonyms) and family relationships, including the separation of couples, the rights of grandparents, adoption, filiation and protected adults.

The preponderance of foreigners in the Principality of Monaco has an impact on family law litigation, which is frequently of an international nature.

Law no. 1.448 of 28 June 2017 responded to the needs arising from the diversity of the 139 nationalities present in the Principality, with the creation of the Monegasque Code of Private International Law ("Code DIP"), which makes it possible in an international context to determine the competent jurisdiction and the applicable law in matters of status and capacity of natural persons, marriage, filiation and adoption, and maintenance obligations. The Code DIP also governs the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments and public deeds in Monaco.

It should be noted that the Code DIP does not affect the provisions of international conventions on private international law to which the Principality of Monaco is a party.

Thus, in particular, the Convention of 19 October 1996 on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement and Co-operation in Respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children, or the Hague Convention of 13 January 2000 on the International Protection of Adults.

Monaco is also a party to the following Hague Conventions (in addition to those mentioned above):

• Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents
• Convention of 15 November 1965 on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters
• Convention of 18 March 1970 on the Taking of Evidence Abroad in Civil or Commercial Matters
• Convention of 25 October 1980 on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction
• Convention of 1 July 1985 on the Law Applicable to Trusts and on their Recognition
• Convention of 29 May 1993 on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption

The Principality has also acceded to the United Nations Convention of 20 June 1956 on the Recovery Abroad of Maintenance and the New York Convention of 20 November 1989 on the Rights of the Child.

In addition, special rules apply with France. The Convention of 21 September 1949 on Mutual Legal Assistance provides for simplified procedures for the enforcement of judgments in civil matters and admits as evidence, without legalisation, copies of civil status records and judicial documents, affidavits, notarial deeds, life certificates for life annuitants (simplified rules for proving their authenticity).

Finally, Monaco's accession to the Council of Europe on 5 October 2004 contributed to the development of family law, under the influence of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), and GREVIO's monitoring of the implementation of the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention).

• Law No. 1.440 of 5 December 2016 amended certain provisions of the Civil Code relating to the family name (devolution of the mother’s name, “name of use”).
• Law No. 1.450 of 4 July 2017 introduced the possibility of alternating residence for the child in case of separation or divorce, and recasted the provisions relating to family mediation.
• The provisions of the Code DIP relating to adoption have been clarified by Law No. 1.470 of 17 June 2019 (conditions for consent and procedure for the forced execution of a foreign adoption decision). In parallel wih this, it substantially recast the internal rules for simple and full adoption.
• Law No. 1.474 of 2 July 2019 introduced new measures for the protection of vulnerable adults (guardianship by Court Order and mandate for future protection) and expressly affirmed the fundamental principles in this field, in the wake of Recommendation No. R(99) of the Committee of Ministers to Member States of the Council of Europe on Principles concerning the legal protection of incapable adults.
• Law n° 1.481 of 17 December 2019 introduced into the Civil Code the civil solidarity contracts ["contrats civils de solidarité"], namely the common life contract ["contrat de vie commune"], which recognises free union in the Principality, and the cohabitation contract (CDC) ["contrat de cohabitation"], which can be concluded between two members of the same family and living under the same roof.
• Law No. 1.494 of 8 July 2020 created the offence of fraudulent organisation or aggravation of insolvency, which punishes fraud resulting from the various acts of impoverishment carried out by the debtor in order to claim insolvency and thus prevent the recovery of the debt on his assets. This offence covers convictions handed down by the civil courts in matters of maintenance, court decisions and judicially approved agreements imposing an obligation to pay benefits, subsidies or contributions to the costs of the marriage.
• A wide-ranging reform of civil procedure was carried out by Law No 1.511 of 2 December 2021, which updated and introduced major innovations to the organisation and operation of civil proceedings, based on Monegasque judicial practice, and in some cases inspired by French civil procedure. With regard to family law in particular, the practice of emergency placement of a minor by the public prosecutor’s office has been codified.
• Law No 1.512 of 3 December 2021 extended from 10 to 20 years the time limit for acquiring Monegasque nationality for a foreign national who marries a Monegasque national. This new 20-year period applies to persons married as from 1 July 2022.
• Law No. 1.523 of 16 May 2022, following Recommendation 76.49 of the United Nations Human Rights Council and in line with the creation of the Monaco Committee for the Promotion and Protection of Women's Rights, updated obsolete legal provisions (for example, the reference to the dowry system,
  or to the offence of adultery), or conveying a gender-based stereotype (such as the patriarchal conception of the family).
• Law no. 1.577 of 1 July 2025 granting the guardianship judge the power to order the alternating residence of children, even without the parents' agreement, when the child's best interests so require.

• Parliamentary draft law no. 261, adopted on 27 June 2024, provides for a reform of the legislation on alternating residence, giving judges the power to impose this measure when it is in the child's best interests to do so.