No doubt, the dissolution of marriage is as important as the registration of marriage. Indeed, many matrimonies are too far from being ideal. The reasons to break up such relationship may be different and any of the spouses may come to wish to get divorced at any stage of his or her living as a couple.
Article 49 of the Civil Code of Ukraine states that the dissolution of marriage is a legal procedure involving the making of a vital record that must be registered in the State Register of Civil Status Records. Thus, everything works just fine if both of the spouses who want to end their marriage stay in Ukraine but if they are or at least one of them is abroad, there may be lots of problems that need to be solved.
As Alva Privacy's legal practice has proved, even the most complex divorce procedures may be successfully resolved if an experienced experts are hired to help and necessary documents are correctly drafted and executed and the spouses have come to a prior mutual agreement.
How to get divorced while staying abroad?
The 2022 statistics show that the martial law and ongoing war in the country had direct effects on family relationships among Ukrainians. The problem of getting divorced abroad turned out to be an urgent business for many of them. All experts have the same answer to this: if the married couple are citizens of and had their relationship registered in Ukraine, the divorce must be registered in Ukraine, no matter what country they currently reside.
Of course, each case has its own specifics requiring individual consideration and preparation (such as, for example, availability of common children and/or co-owned property, mutual agreement reached, etc.). If the husband or wife is (as well as both of them are) outside Ukraine, there are two ways to get divorce:
- applying to bodies of the State Register of Civil Status Records (civil registry); or
- filing a petition to a court.
Naturally, it is better and much easier to put marital relations to an end through civil registry bodies rather than a court. However, as mentioned above, if one of the spouses is abroad, Alva Privacy lawyers recommend you getting divorced online through a court, keeping in mind, this time again, that all cases are specific and require an individual approach.
Let us consider in more details potential options to dissolve a marriage.
Options to dissolve the marriage if one of the spouses is abroad
1. Through bodies of the State Register of Civil Status Records
To make use of this option, one needs to be prepared for a procedure that takes a few stages. Firstly, a person who is abroad must hand over to his or her spouse who is in Ukraine a translated and legalized statutory statement of his or her intention to terminate the marital relations. Then, the person who is in Ukraine attaches this statement to his or her application and files them to a civil registry office.
The divorce will be registered after a month. The spouse who is abroad must send a translated and legalized consent to the divorce in his or her absentia by that time. The civil registry body must register the divorce after all of these documents are received.
Please note! This option is possible only if the spouses have no disputes related to their divorce, have no minor children and if at least one of the spouses will be present / arrive personally to Ukraine.
If you choose this option you will incur such additional expenses as state duty, notary fees for notarizing the application and consent, and apostillation and translation fees, including postal expenses for sending documents from abroad. Therefore, we cannot say that this option is better or less expensive than the judicial divorce.
It is quite complicated and time consuming to have all of the necessary documents executed and certified, apostilled, translated and notarized, including before foreign notaries, so that errors may be made from time to time, due to which the civil registry bodies refuse accepting the documents, making the divorce through civil register bodies impossible.
2. Through a court
For this option, it is important to determine correctly the jurisdiction (which court to apply for dissolution of the marriage) to file a divorce petition; reach a mutual agreement to speed up the proceedings on court even if the couple have common children; make it possible to conduct the divorce process without the presence of both the claimant and the respondent; and have a family lawyer to handle the case in full in the Ukrainian court.
Experts from Alva Privacy note that it will be better, easier, less time-consuming and even more cost effective to hire a lawyer to deal with the dissolution of marriage in court. So, in order to get divorced quickly while staying abroad, it is necessary to:
- contact a family lawyer in Ukraine (you can do it online);
- get advice on family matters and discuss all of the details of the case;
- sign a legal service (assistance) agreement remotely;
- send copies of all necessary documents in an electronic format to the lawyer;
- agree upon the terms of engagement and, if necessary, draft procedural documents to be prepared and pay for the lawyer's service fees;
- wait for the judicial procedure to be completed;
- receive, in an electronic format and/or by post, the documents that confirm the dissolution of marriage (court judgment that has taken legal effect).
