A judgment issued by a foreign court (in France, Belgium, Spain, or elsewhere) is not automatically enforceable in Morocco. For it to have legal effect in Morocco, it must be validated by a Moroccan judge: this is known as the enforcement procedure.
The law firm of Amal Anouide will guide you through every step of obtaining the enforcement of your foreign court decisions. We guarantee a swift procedure, compliant with bilateral judicial conventions, and entirely manageable remotely.
Exequatur is a legal procedure initiated before the Court of First Instance in Morocco. Its purpose is not to retry the case, but to verify that the foreign judgment meets three fundamental conditions:
Once the exequatur is granted, your foreign judgment has the same legal force as a judgment rendered by a Moroccan court.
This is the most frequent request. If you divorced abroad, you remain married in the eyes of the Moroccan civil registry until the exequatur is granted. We handle the process of having your foreign divorce decree recognized in order to update your civil status records in Morocco, thus allowing you to legally remarry or settle an inheritance.
We intervene to have foreign judgments relating to adoption (Kafala), recognition of paternity, child custody or the setting of child support payments recognized in Morocco.
Have you obtained a judgment against a company or debtor in a foreign court, but their assets are located in Morocco? We obtain the enforcement of your commercial judgment or arbitration award in order to proceed with precautionary or enforcement seizures on Moroccan soil.
To ensure a swift procedure, your file must be complete. Here are the documents generally required by Moroccan courts:
Required document | Description |
The authentic copy of the judgment | Also called "Grosse", bearing the executory formula. |
The certificate of no appeal | Or any document proving that the judgment is final. |
The act of notification | Proof that the opposing party was properly informed of the judgment. |
The sworn translation | All documents in a foreign language must be translated into Arabic by a certified translator. |
Identity documents | Copies of your national identity card, passport, and possibly marriage certificate. |
Note: Depending on the country of origin of the judgment, an apostille or consular legalization may be required. Our firm will guide you precisely through these formalities.
You do not need to travel to Morocco to initiate or follow your exequatur procedure.
Thanks to a special power of attorney You will need to have the document legalized at the Moroccan consulate in your country of residence. Attorney Amal Anouide will represent you in court. We will handle the filing of the application, the pleadings, the follow-up to the hearings, and we will send you the final exequatur judgment directly to your home.
• Exequatur of a judgment regarding French divorce to allow remarriage…
• Recognition of an inheritance judgment rendered in Belgium…
• Enforcement of a Spanish court decision…
• Validation of an American child custody judgment…
• Assistance with enforcing a maintenance order…
To initiate the exequatur procedure for a judgment foreign, we will ask you for:
Exequatur is the legal procedure that allows a judgment rendered by a foreign court to be recognized and granted enforceable status in Morocco. Without this procedure, a foreign court decision (for example, a divorce decree or a commercial ruling) has no legal value on Moroccan territory and cannot be forcibly applied.
The exequatur procedure applies to a wide range of decisions:
The procedure is mainly governed by:
The Moroccan judge verifies several points without retrying the merits of the case. The main conditions are:
The procedure unfolds in several steps:
The file must necessarily contain:
The timelines vary considerably. A simple procedure may take less than a month, but if the case is complex or in case of appeal, it can last over a year. For divorce judgments, the approximate duration is often about 45 days if the file is complete and without complications.
Yes, representation by a lawyer registered with a Moroccan bar association is mandatory to file an application for enforcement before the Court of First Instance.
No, the exequatur judge does not review the merits of the judgment. Their role is limited to a check for regularity. However, they may grant a partial exequaturFor example, they may recognize the dissolution of the marriage (the divorce) but refuse to enforce a part of the judgment that would be contrary to Moroccan public policy, such as a provision on alimony/maintenance that does not comply with Moroccan law.
Once the exequatur judgment is obtained, the foreign decision has the same force as a Moroccan judgment. It can be officially executed in Morocco. For example, a divorce judgment can be transcribed into the Moroccan civil status registers (marriage certificate and birth certificates), thus formalizing the change in matrimonial status of the former spouses.
Yes. Divorce without a judge (by a lawyer's deed filed with a notary) is recognized in Morocco, but it still requires a specific exequatur procedure to be transcribed in the Moroccan civil registry.
