When dealing with the divorce, does the Russian Court hearing the divorce automatically deal with other related issues such as division of matrimonial assets, maintenance (alimony) for the ex-wife, maintenance for the child, custody of the child, care and control of the child (which parent the child resides with) and access to the child (the nonresidential parent’s visitation rights to the child)? Or does either party have to file a different application for these reliefs, separate from the divorce itself?

We would be grateful if we could seek your legal opinion on the following points in accordance with the prevailing law in the Russian Federation. Can you explain the process for divorce in the Russia Federation?

I just discovered there is a divorce case against me in small claims court. The final hearing is scheduled for next Monday, but I just received the summons.

I realize my wife is using the small claims court to get the divorce and escape from dividing any property with me. She wants to keep it all.

Can anything be done to stop this proceeding and make her file in St. Petersburg? The grounds can include incorrect establishment of jurisdiction, faulty notice of service, or deliberate filing false address. I live in St. Petersburg. She lives in Moscow. The case filed in Voronezh.

I am US citizen. I have permanent registration in St. Petersburg. We married in Voronezh. I want to make sure our divorce also settles a division of property as all of the properties are in her name.

My translator is checking the court site every day. There was no information of this case on the site by yesterday.

This is a surprise. I never received any notice of the Voronezh filing from the court or from anyone. I was never served.

I know my wife is using the small claims court to get the divorce and escape from dividing any property with me. She wants to keep it all.

In a “division of property” can I claim, as sole and separate personal property, specific Real Estate purchased in Russia during the marriage since they were paid for with funds from the sale of my home in Pennsylvania that I owned before the marriage?

These properties are in the name of my wife, as I did not yet have temporary or permanent residency when purchased, and I was told non-residents of Russia could not own property.

Based on the special plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, which considered complex issues in claims for divorce (№ 15 of November 5, 1998). At this plenum, the following clarifications were given: common joint property, although acquired during the marriage, but purchased with personal funds of each of the spouses, which belonged to him before marriage, is not common. And yet there will be no common “things for individual use, with the exception of Jewelry and other luxury items”.

From all that has been said, the Supreme Court draws the following conclusion: a legally significant circumstance in deciding whether to classify property as common property of the spouses is what money it was bought with, personal or common, and under what transactions, paid, or gratuitous, one of the spouses acquired this property during the period of marriage. Property received by one of the spouses in marriage through gratuitous civil law transactions (this is inheritance, donation, privatization) is not the common property of the spouses. The acquisition of property during the period of marriage, but with funds owned by one of the spouses personally, also excludes such property from the common joint property regime.

Karina,
Hope you are doing well.
My son Nicholas will be 18 years old in 3 weeks and has been pressing me about his biological parents. When I asked you about potentially having you do some investigation for me on his biological parents - you cautioned me that I should reconsider doing this. I assume this was because he was under 18 years old. If he is now 18 years old - are there still concerns with Nicholas attempting to find out more information about his biological parents? I'd prefer to know so I can advise him properly. I suspect he will pursue doing this regardless of my help so I would prefer to help manage the process if there are limited or no risks to doing this. Thank you.

Dear Karina,

I'd like to know how much would it cost to get a copy of my divorce papers from Russia?

I divorced in 2015 in Russia, Crimea, the city of Yalta. The court sent the original of the divorce but somehow it was lost on the way. I talked to someone at the Russian Embassy in DC and it was unclear to me how to request this original copy.

What would be the cost and how long would it take?

Thank you so much!

Writing in English because no Russian keyboard at the moment.

Karina,

My son, Richard, is with me right now in the USA. He goes with his mom every other weekend from Friday evening to Monday morning. My former wife has been in violation of the judges order whereas she moved 60 miles away from New York and now lives in New Jersey.

On April 2017, his mother against my full consent flew back to Russia and delivered our son there in Moscow on June 2017. I flew there directly after the birth. We went back as a family to the United States on September of 2017.

My ex has not taken our son back to Russia since that, and I want to prevent this from happening until Richard is 18 years old.

I have a lot of friends and contacts in Russia and I do want to take Richard back before he is a 18 yrs old but I am concerned that the Russian authorities or me ex family can cause a situation to have them take my son and deport me or through me in jail for kidnapping (heard horror stories).

If there was a way that I could still securely travel with my son at least once a year without issue, I would welcome that opportunity. The attorney that finished the custody litigation recently got all of Richard's Russian document finally from his mom and he is holding them due to COVID19 lockdown.

According to the custody order which I have send to you, neither parent shall relocate the residence of Richard outside a radius of 50 miles from his current residence, without prior order of the Court or the written consent of both parents. Neither parent shall remove Richard from the United States without prior consent of the Court or the written consent of both parents.

Is my ex in violation of those covenants as long as she lives in NJ outside the 50 miles radius and can I legally not give back the Russian documents to prevent her from traveling outside the country back to Russia with Richard until she is in compliance?

When I first found your website, I was impressed by your experience and knowledge. Let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

I was wondering if you might be able to give us information to point us in the right direction on a matter.

My husband is Russian. Recently his mother passed away. His father is experiencing dementia. Of late, he has been telling stories and my husband is not sure what is the truth. He claims my husband's mother was married twice before. We would like to find out if this is true but since my husband emigrated many years ago, he does not know where to start to look for records.

Is this a matter you might be able to help with? We do not know where marriage records can be found, or annulments (his father claims one marriage was annulled. His parents lived in Moscow.

Ms Duvall,

My father-in-law does not have a copy of the birth certificate, nor can any one of his family find it in his previous residences.

Another issue is with Russian Law, he has to be present in person to receive the birth certificate.

How about this option, can you do a Russian power of attorney digitally so that my brother in law can receive the birth certificate in place of his father?

Thank you for your time

Hi my name is Daniel Popov and I’ve recently lost my birth certificate that was in Russian

Dear Ms Duvall,

My wife and I are fighting for a visa for my father-in-law who is a Russian citizen that is currently living with us in the USA. We applied for a I-485, however, due to the lack of the government long form birth certificate, we were denied.

As you know as an Immigration specialist, we have 33 days to get the birth certificate to request a motion. We already applied thorough the Russian Consulate in New York, but due to Corona virus and systemic slowness with the Russian system we fear that the form will take months to be sent to us.

We kindly ask if you have the means and ability to expedite the process. My father-in-law is from Moscow.

If you have the ability we have the resources to pay for your services but please understand that time is of the essence.

Thank you for your time and feel free to call or your associates to call myself.

Much heartfelt gratitude for your time.