(1) Insofar as property consequences of divorce do not fall within the scope of application of Regulation (EU) 2016/1103 or Regulation (EC) No. 4/2009 and are not subject to other rules of this subsection, they shall be governed by the law applicable to the divorce according to Regulation (EU) No. 1259/2010.
(2) Divorces that do not fall within the scope of application of Regulation (EU) No. 1259/2010 shall be subject to the rules of chapter II of that Regulation with the proviso that
1. article 5, paragraph 1, letter d, of Regulation (EU) No. 1259/2010 is not applicable;
2. in article 5, paragraph 2, article 6, paragraph 2, and article 8, letters a to c, of Regulation (EU) No. 1259/2010, the time the divorce proceeding is initiated is relevant instead of the time the court is seized;
3. departing form article 5, paragraph 2, of Regulation (EU) No. 1259/2010, the spouses may also conclude an agreement designating the applicable law during the course of the proceeding if the applicable law provides for this, and insofar as they respect the form provided for in article 7 of that Regulation;
4. in the case of article 8, letter d, of Regulation (EU) No. 1259/2010 the law of the State with which the spouses are otherwise most closely connected will be applied instead oft the law of the State where the court is seized, and
5. article 6 applies instead of articles 10 and 12 of Regulation (EU) No. 1259/2010.
(3) Within the country a divorce may only be decreed by a court.
(4) The equalization of pension rights of husband and wife is governed by the law applicable under paragraph 1 first sentence; it shall only be carried out if accordingly German law is applicable and if such equalization is recognized by the law of one of the countries of which the spouses were nationals at the time when the divorce petition was served. Otherwise, the equalization of pension rights of husband and wife shall be carried out pursuant to German law on application of a spouse, if one of the spouses has acquired during the subsistence of the marriage a pension right with an inland pension fund, insofar as carrying out the equalization of pension rights would not be inconsistent with equity, in particular in light of the economic circumstances of both sides during the entire time of the marriage.