Jurisdiction
Further jurisdictional rules
Related actions, Article 13
Article 13 of the Maintenance Regulation provides that in the case of related actions pending in the courts of different European Union Member States, any court but the court first seised may stay its proceedings. In accordance with the Regulation actions are deemed to be related “where they are so closely connected that it is expedient to hear and determine them together to avoid the risk of irreconcilable judgments resulting from separate proceedings”,
Article 13(3). Should the related actions be “pending at first instance, any court other than the court first seised may also, on the application of one of the parties, decline jurisdiction if the court first seised has jurisdiction over the actions in question and its law permits the consolidation thereof”, Article 13(2).