For all legal actions brought, judgments given and acts issued until 28 January 2019, the Greek courts have jurisdiction to decide on disputes relating to couples of different nationality where the Greek private international law states so, in other words when the case has a substantial connection with Greece.

Generally, there is jurisdiction of Greek courts when the defendant has his/her permanent residence in Greece. In case the defendant has no permanent residence neither in Greece nor abroad, the court of the district of his/her residence is competent (Art. 3 and 22 and the following of the Code of Civil Procedure).

In case of matrimonial issues also the court of the district of the spouses' last common residence is competent (Art. 39 Code of Civil Procedure). Greek courts are always competent for parties having the Greek nationality (Art. 611 and 612 Code of Civil Procedure).

For all legal actions brought, judgments given and acts issued on or after 29 January 2019, regardless of the date of marriage, Council Regulation (EU) No 2016/1103 of 24 June 2016 will apply.

This Regulation provides that the competent authorities will be as follows:

- For matters relating to the matrimonial regime in the event of the death of one of the spouses, jurisdiction lies with the court competent for the succession (Art. 4).

- In matters relating to the matrimonial property regime in the event of an application for divorce, legal separation or marriage annulment, jurisdiction generally falls to the court competent to rule on the matrimonial dispute.

- In other cases, the spouses may agree that jurisdiction shall lie with the Member State whose law is applicable or with the Member State where the marriage is concluded. Such an agreement must be in writing, dated and signed by the parties. In the absence of an agreement, the courts of the Member State shall, as a general rule, have jurisdiction to settle any question relating to their matrimonial property regime other than in the event of the death of one of the spouses or a matrimonial dispute:

• of the spouses’ common habitual residence at the time the court is seised; or failing that
• of the spouses’ last habitual residence, insofar as one of them still resides there; or failing that
• of the habitual residence of the respondent; or failing that
• of the spouses’ common nationality.

With the exception of any litigation, notaries – unless they have been appointed by their Member State as a court within the meaning of Article 3.2 – are not bound by these rules of jurisdiction and may therefore act freely, for example in drafting a marriage contract or a choice of law agreement. It should be noted that in Greece, for the time being, the notary has the power to conclude a cohabitation contract and not a marriage contract, which is not provided for at this stage by the legislation.

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