The legislation of the Russian Federation allows a Russian citizen to move freely throughout the territory of Russia and live where he considers it most convenient. In turn, freedom of movement gives rise to some legal difficulties in matters of termination of marriage in such cases when:
- The husband and wife have a residence permit in one city, they registered their marital relationship in another city, but actually live in a third locality.
- The spouses are registered at a permanent place of residence in one of the Russian localities and they registered their marriage there, but they live under temporary registration in another locality.
In this regard, it is necessary to know in what cases the law allows spouses to dissolve their marriage in another city, and also to know how to file for divorce in a place other than their place of residence.
Procedure for filing for divorce
Divorce occurs in accordance with the procedure established by law, with the receipt of supporting documents. By mutual agreement, if the couple does not have minor children together, you can contact the registry office for this purpose. Otherwise, the divorce will be formalized in court.
Moreover, as a general rule, such claims are filed at the place of residence of the defendant. At the same time, the legislation establishes circumstances when a divorce may occur at the plaintiff’s place of residence. For example, if you have small children or for health reasons.
Find out more about what you need to do to file for divorce.
Divorce without registration or when registering in another city
The simplest option for dissolving a marriage by mutual consent of the parties in the absence of common minor children is to contact the registry office. Divorce in another city through the registry office can occur:
- at the place of registration of one of the parties;
- at the place of marriage registration.
It is worth considering that if the spouses do not have the opportunity to submit a joint application, each party will have to fill out the prescribed form separately. Thus, both spouses certify their voluntary desire to dissolve the marriage relationship.
An application for divorce, if the marriage is registered in another city and the initiator of the breakup is one of the spouses, or the couple has common minor children, is submitted for consideration to the court.
As noted earlier, according to the rule of territorial jurisdiction, a claim must be filed at the defendant’s place of residence, except in cases provided for by law. In addition, procedural legislation allows the filing of an application at the place of residence of one of the parties by mutual consent of the spouses.
Before filing for divorce from another city, check the address of the other party, since in practice situations often arise when the exact place of residence of the defendant is unknown. In this case, territorial jurisdiction will be determined in accordance with the wishes of the plaintiff. The application will need to indicate these circumstances and refer to the relevant legislation.
In addition to cases where spouses have registrations in different localities of the country, it may also happen that one or both of them are without registration at all. As you know, the parties must indicate their address in the application: this does not have to be the place of registration, the place of actual residence will also do.
Thus, responses and other correspondence related to the divorce case will be sent to the address specified in the complaint. This fact should in no way interfere with the legal right of citizens to divorce. At the same time, dissolving a marriage without registration will not be difficult; the parties will have the same rights and obligations that they would have with registration.
Difficulties of the divorce process
Divorce between spouses living in different cities may take longer than usual. This is explained by the fact that sending documents from one locality to another takes time.
In addition, during the divorce process, problems such as collection of alimony for child support, division of property, etc. may arise. Consideration of these demands of the participants in the process often requires personal presence: the judge must listen to the opinions of the parties. If a participant fails to appear, the hearing may be rescheduled several times.
Therefore, the best option would be to still come to the divorce on the appointed day. It is even better to resolve issues related to children and property before the divorce. To do this, the parties can enter into an agreement in which they stipulate with whom the children will remain, what amount of alimony the spouse undertakes to pay, who will receive the joint property and in what shares.
List of documents required to file a divorce
Along with the statement of claim, you need to submit a whole package of documents to the court, which includes copies of:
- identification documents of the parties;
- marriage certificates;
- birth certificates of children (if available).
A receipt for payment of the state duty should also be attached to the above package of documents.
In addition, if, simultaneously with the dissolution of the marital relationship, the issue of paying alimony or dividing jointly acquired property is being considered, then other evidence in the case must be provided (certificate of income of the defendant, certificate of cohabitation of the child with the plaintiff, and so on).
For those who are interested in how to file for divorce if the husband is registered in another city, the list of documents will not be any different from the one above.
Check out the complete list of documents required for divorce.
Arbitrage practice
The case was considered by the Frunzensky District Court of Ivanovo in May 2021.
The marriage between the defendant and the plaintiff was registered in the department of the state civil registry office located in the city of Teykovo, Ivanovo region, in 2014. The spouses actually lived in Ivanovo at the time the divorce proceedings began.
In addition to the demand for divorce, the wife also declared claims to part of the joint property. The reason for the end of the marriage, according to the wife, was the termination of cohabitation and the refusal to run a family household on the part of both marriage partners.
During the court hearing, the spouses agreed on the peaceful division of marital assets and signed an agreement on this. The husband acknowledged the validity of his wife's claims for divorce. The court, having checked this statement of the defendant, did not find any contradiction with the law and declared it lawful.
Thus, the wife's request to end the marriage was satisfied.
Unilateral divorce
Divorce does not always occur by mutual consent of the parties. Often, one of the spouses initiates a divorce for one reason or another. As already noted, in this case you need to file a claim in court. Depending on the circumstances of the case, this process may take varying amounts of time.
However, in some cases the court is not the only place to file an application. So, you can unilaterally get a divorce in the registry office if the spouse:
- declared missing;
- declared incompetent;
- sentenced by a court to imprisonment for a term of more than three years.
Find out more about the procedure for filing for unilateral divorce from our material.
Filing a divorce in another country
In the modern world, Russians often marry foreigners. In this regard, the question may arise: how to get a divorce if the marriage is registered in another country. In Russia, there are special rules for the recognition of marriages registered abroad. The procedure for its termination is similar to that for citizens of the Russian Federation.
In this case, the same rules apply: by mutual consent and without children, you can divorce in the registry office, in other cases - through the court. Under conditions where divorce is allowed in the registry office, a divorce can also be filed at diplomatic missions or consular offices of Russia. At the same time, while staying outside the Russian Federation, it is necessary to adhere to the laws of another state.
It follows that an application for divorce can be filed regardless of the citizenship of the parties. The second party must be notified of the process. The claim is usually filed in the court of the territory in which the defendant is registered or resides.
Features of remote divorce of spouses residing outside the territory of the Russian Federation
The divorce process becomes noticeably more complicated if spouses live in different countries.
In such a situation, their action plan is as follows:
- A visit of a spouse living outside the territory of the Russian Federation to a lawyer or directly to a notary for the preparation and/or certification of a document confirming his consent to divorce. This could be a power of attorney to represent the interests of such a person in court or an application for divorce.
- Search for an organization that carries out the translation of legally significant documents and certifies it with an Apostille stamp.
- Forwarding the original and translation of the power of attorney/divorce application to the sender’s representative in the Russian Federation or to the civil registry office at the place where the spouse lives.
- Drawing up and filing an application for divorce by a spouse located in Russia (at his place of residence).
The further course of the procedure will be practically no different from those described earlier.
The lawyers on our site will help you choose the best method of divorce and draw up a plan for further action. Consultation is provided free of charge, by telephone and through the electronic form of the website.
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Division of common property during divorce
When divorcing a marriage, one of the most pressing issues is the division of property. Thus, the common property of spouses includes:
- income of each party from labor, intellectual and entrepreneurial activities;
- pensions and benefits that do not have a designated purpose;
- movable and immovable property acquired during marriage;
- other property acquired during marriage.
Before getting a divorce in another city or at your place of residence, it is worth considering that there is personal property of each spouse that is not subject to division. The entire procedure is greatly simplified by a concluded marriage contract, which initially provides for the resolution of controversial property issues.
Find out in more detail how to divide property during a divorce competently and without prejudice to the interests of each party.
