Family law

The family is the primary and fundamental unit of society.

Unfortunately, many families have to face difficult but necessary situations in life such as divorce, recovery of alimony, division of matrimonial property, deprivation of parental rights and others.

At the moment when a family breaks up, everything bright is forgotten and grievances take over. This gives rise to disagreements that grow into lengthy court battles. A family attorney will help you resolve the situation faster.

Property and non-property relations between spouses, between parents and children, and between guardians and their wards are governed by the rules of the family legislation of Ukraine. Since such relations most often arise between family members, disagreements between them are usually called family cases (disputes).

Main services of a family attorney

• services of a family attorney in divorce and family disputes in Kyiv
• advice on matters connected with family legal relations
• preparation of a marriage contract
• legal review and identification of risks when terminating a marriage contract
• preparation and filing of the necessary documents
• dissolution of marriage and preparation of divorce documents
• legal assistance in dividing property jointly acquired during the marriage — division of living space and other property, division of corporate rights (a joint business)
• recovery of alimony
• legal assistance in deprivation of parental rights
• adoption
• determining the child's place of residence

1. Dissolution of marriage

The current legislation of Ukraine provides for a judicial procedure of divorce where the spouses have minor children, where there is a dispute over the division of joint property, or where one spouse avoids the dissolution of the marriage.

Court divorce proceedings are always connected with considerable stress for everyone involved. The attorney provides competent advice on family law, helps to draw up the statement of claim and defends your interests in court. Divorce proceedings may drag on for a long time — an attorney speeds the process up.

2. Division of matrimonial property

The division of matrimonial property in court is one of the most complex procedures in family law. It requires specialist legal knowledge and an entirely individual approach to each case.

Joint property of the spouses means all property acquired during the marriage, save for the exceptions defined by the Family Code of Ukraine. Most divorces sooner or later end in a conflict over the division of jointly acquired property. Without qualified legal support it is very difficult to defend your property rights. Even where there is no conflict, it is important to divide joint property correctly and with the client's interests in mind.

First of all the attorney will try to settle the family dispute over the division of property amicably, by concluding an appropriate agreement which may, if necessary, be notarised. The attorney will explain which part of the property may belong to you after the division, and will advise on the nuances of dividing particular types of property connected with the most significant property and non-property rights.

If the dispute cannot be settled amicably, the property must be divided through the courts. With an attorney taking part in the family case you obtain not only effective protection of your interests in court, but also minimise your personal presence at hearings: the attorney represents you at every stage of the proceedings, interacting with the other participants on your behalf.

Division of living space: an apartment or a house

As a general rule, if real estate was acquired during the marriage with joint funds, it is divided between the former spouses in equal shares. In that case several options are possible: joint use of the apartment or house, sale of the property and division of the proceeds, or compensation by one spouse of half the value of the home.

It happens that the apartment or house belongs, in whole or in part, to third parties on paper (parents, a grandmother or grandfather) — such property does not take part in the division. However, if one spouse has evidence that the property was acquired wholly or partly with their funds, the court may recognise their right to a proportionate share.

If the home belonged to one spouse before the marriage, was acquired with their personal funds or is their personal property on other grounds, there is still a possibility that the court will recognise the other spouse's right to part of it. This is possible where, over the years of living together, that spouse contributed their labour or money to maintaining the apartment or house, and where the property was substantially improved through their labour or financial contributions (Art. 62 of the Family Code of Ukraine).

As for a mortgage taken out during the marriage, the payments made during the marriage are subject to division in equal shares. Where the spouses cannot agree, the court determines the procedure for dividing such payments, taking into account the circumstances of the loan repayment and of the initial instalment.

Division of corporate rights (a joint business)

Where the contribution to the charter capital of a limited liability company was formed by the spouses jointly but the share is formally held by one of them, the other spouse may, on division of matrimonial property, claim 50% of those corporate rights — that is, claim to become a participant of the company. Court practice on this question varies: courts must establish whether the consent of the other participants is required for admission to the company.

If the acquisition of part of the corporate rights in the course of the division of property is regarded not as an alienation of part of the share requiring the participants' consent, but as an analogue of legal succession, the claimant spouse may become a participant of the company even without the consent of the other participants.

Land acquired into ownership during the marriage is not the personal property of one spouse; it is subject to division between the spouses in equal shares. A difficulty may arise where one spouse has already used their right to privatisation and the other has not — in such cases the recommendations differ depending on the specific situation.

3. Adoption

Adoption in Ukraine is an extremely complex process in which, to achieve the desired result — a new member of your family — a person must perform a series of complicated legally significant actions. Without professional legal assistance and proper support it is very difficult to obtain the desired outcome. If you need legal assistance in the complex process of adoption, contact us and you will be provided with the full range of services.

4. Recovery of alimony

Alimony (and arrears of alimony) is recovered through the courts where one spouse — most often the husband — is unwilling to pay funds for the maintenance of a child or of other persons determined by law. We will help you draw up the statement of claim for the recovery of alimony and will apply all our knowledge and skills to have a fair amount established.

At the same time, malicious evasion of alimony payments is prosecuted under criminal law. In such a case the attorney's task is to subject the person evading payment to criminal enforcement measures.

Alimony for a child must be paid until the child reaches the age of majority, though there are exceptions — for example, where the child is studying (but not beyond the age of 23). It often happens that parents do not wish to pay alimony for an adult child who continues to study; in such cases it is appropriate to apply to the court with a statement of claim.

The amount of alimony established by the court may also be changed. Over time the financial position of the payer may change, as may other circumstances on both sides. In that case an application must be made to the court to increase or reduce the amount of alimony. Such a claim may be brought by either party — the payer or the recipient.

We also assist in the actual enforcement of the court decision on the recovery of child maintenance through the State enforcement service.

5. Determining the child's place of residence

Often the reason for a divorce is the negative — immoral or antisocial — behaviour of one spouse. In that case there arises a need to determine that the child should live with the parent who provides a normal environment, and this becomes the subject matter of court proceedings in this category of cases.

6. Deprivation of parental rights

Courts resort to such decisions where parents, or one of them, evade the performance of their duties or exert a negative influence on the children. Most often I accompany such proceedings at the initiative of one of the parents; State bodies responsible for children's affairs may also act as the initiator.

Legal concepts you should know

A family consists of persons who live together, are connected by a common household and have mutual rights and obligations. Spouses are considered a family even where the wife and husband do not live together because of study, work, medical treatment, the need to care for parents or children, or other valid reasons. A child belongs to the family of their parents even where they do not live together with them. A family is created on the basis of marriage, blood relationship, adoption and other grounds not prohibited by law and not contrary to the moral principles of society (Art. 3 of the Family Code of Ukraine).

A person has the legal status of a child until they reach the age of majority. A child under the age of fourteen is regarded as a young child; a child aged between fourteen and eighteen is regarded as a minor.

Marriage is a family union of a woman and a man registered with the State civil registration authority. Living together as one family without marriage does not give rise to the rights and obligations of spouses. A religious marriage ceremony likewise does not give rise to such rights and obligations, except where the religious ceremony took place before the creation or restoration of the State civil registration authorities (Art. 21 of the Family Code of Ukraine).