DIVORCE

Answer:

Because you don’t have minor children and you are not a Russian citizen, you can file divorce suit only at the respondent’s place of residence. So you will have such right until your wife lives in Russia. If she leaves Russia, you will loose this right. But with your wife’s consent, she also can initiate divorce and no matter there she lives, she can file divorce in Russia where you have residence.

Karina Krasnova

Answer:

Yes, of course.

Karina Krasnova

Answer:

As I expect, yes.

Karina Krasnova

Answer:

I don’t think it would be unreasonable to get Russian court decision about alimony for foreign spouse. You both will face a lot of problems enforcing such decision. In my opinion with divorce in Russia you don’t need to consider alimony question or to make agreement with your wife about alimony without court. I think you wife would not insist on decision about alimony in Russian court.

Karina Krasnova

Answer:

Your wife has a choice. She can files for alimony to court at her place of living or at your place of living.

Karina Krasnova

Answer:

Yes, of course.

Karina Krasnova

Answer:

Yes, of course.

Karina Krasnova

Answer:

Correct. But the question about principals and percentage of foreign property division in foreign court can be answered only by a lawyer from the country where such property is located.

Karina Krasnova

Answer:

Probably I don’t quite understand your question. If the moneys were earned in marriage, they become a joint property if spouses and have to be divided in equal parts. If the moneys for down payment were received from selling of other property owned by your wife before marriage, her part in the join estate increases respectively. In any case this is not ruled by Russian law because the property is abroad.

Karina Krasnova

Answer:

I would like to repeat one more time to make sure you understand that correctly. You have to support your minor child from birth till his/her 18th birthday. This responsibility you have for your child no matter if he was born in wedlock or not.
An obligation to support your girlfriend you don’t have because according to Russian law the mutual rights and responsibilities arise only after marriage registration. In case of marriage and later divorce you have to support your wife or ex-wife in period of her pregnancy and within three years from the child birth. You also cannot initiate divorce within the period of her pregnancy and one year from the child birth.

Karina Krasnova

Answer:

You cannot demand alimony from yourself. Your wife has the right to request alimony. It’s difficult to imagine the situation when she goes with such suit to Russian court. I would not file for alimony to Russian court because there is no treaty about legal redress between Russian and USA, and between Russian and UK. And to enforce such decision of Russian court one should go to court again. But for voluntary fulfillment, it’s enough just to sign a notary agreement and court is not needed at all.

Karina Krasnova

Answer:

This is correct.
According to the law of Russia:
1) disagreements concerning real estate property belong to exclusive jurisdiction, that is they are considered just according to the center of location of real estate property (article 30 part 1 Code of Civil Procedure of Russia). Russia court is not allowed to perform the division of real estate property that is situated abroad;

2) to the property that is acquired by spouses during their marriage(general property of spouses), refer the profits of each spouse, purchased movable and immovable items, capital issues, fund, the shares in capital and another property gained by spouses during their marriage, that is independent from whom name it is gained (article 34 part 2 of Family Code of Russia). Property that has been depended to each of spouses before they were married, also the property obtained as present by one of spouses at the time of marriage in order of inheritance or by another gratuitous dealerships (the property of each spouse), is being his property (article 36 part 1 of Family Code of Russia).

Karina Krasnova

Answer:

Russian court is not allowed to perform the division of the property that is out of Russia Federation borders. If you have got the agreement with your wife then the best will be to make a contract of the property division in the USA territory, where the property is situated. If can’t get an agreement with your wife, in this case the division of the property, which is situated in the USA, only the American court has a right to do this.
If the property is situated in New York, I can direct you to my colleague in New York who can reach understandings with your wife and can represent your interests in the court.

Karina Krasnova

Answer:

According to the article 90, 91 Family Code of Russia, disabled indigent ex-spouse who has become disabled before the divorce or during 1 year from the moment of divorce, also indigent spouse who has reached retirement age, has the right to demand the assignment of alimony from ex-spouse in court’s order.

The size of alimony and the order of their assignment to ex-spouse after the divorce can be specified by agreement between ex-spouses.

If the agreement of payment is absent between spouses, the size of alimony exacted from ex-spouse in court order is determined by the court proceeding from the material and marital status of ex-spouses, and other interest that deserve consideration of sides in stable sum of money that has to be paid monthly.

You can divorce in the territory of Russia, and your wife can demand alimony only in case of inhabitancy in Russia. Foreign citizens that are situated in the territory of Russia temporarily are not entitled to divorce and demand alimony according to the law of Russia Federation.

If you are entitled to divorce according to the law of Russia Federation, then the procedure of divorce will get near 3 months. I can present your interests in your case.

Karina Krasnova

Answer:

1) As I know Family law in the US ties the opportunity to file an alimony and divorce suit to court with required residence in territory of the state.

2) If you will sign a contract, this contract will be obligate to you independent from your place of residence.

3) If the decision of the court about the action of alimony exaction is completed in the territory of one of the states, then reconsideration of this case is not required. In this case you have to present the decision of Russian court to performance to the appropriate court of the USA. The decision of foreign courts must be compulsory performed, if there are no disagreements between the rules of national and foreign laws.

Karina Krasnova

Answer:

In my opinion, the child birth will not repel at the prospects of divorce with your wife. You can ask the court to accelerate the legal investigation because of necessity to marry again and the pregnancy of your girlfriend. However, if the divorce is mutually agreed, this petition has no sense.

Karina Krasnova

Answer:

If I understand you correctly, the child birth will not influence on the divorce with your ex-spouse and on the opportunity to exact alimony from you to maintain her.

Karina Krasnova

Answer:

Nobody has a priority. According to the force of Russian law, you must maintain your child until he/she will be 18 years old (article 81 Family Code of Russia) and your ex-spouse if she has become disabled during your marriage. The mother of your child also can be entitled to get alimony during her pregnancy and until the child will be 3 years old, providing you will marry her according to the law.

Karina Krasnova

Answer:

- Birth Certificate with apostille,
- Certificate about previous Marriage with apostille,
- Divorce Certificate with apostille.

Karina Krasnova

Answer:

Each party of an agreement has a right to dispute the agreement.
Although on practice it's unlikely to do if there was no violations while concluding the agreement.

According to the Article 161 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation, the spouses' property rights and duties are defined by the law of the country where they have common place of living. In case of absence of the common residence, the jurisdiction is the country of their last common place of living. Property rights and duties of those spouses who did not have a common place of living are defined in the territory of Russian Federation by the law of Russian Federation.

By concluding pre-nuptial agreement, the spouses who do not have common citizenship or common place of living, can choose the law to be applied to define their rights and duties according to the pre-nuptial agreement. Please note that it is said in your agreement. In case when the spouses did not choose the applied law, there will be provisions of Article 161 Part 1 of Family Code of Russia applied to the pre-nuptial agreement.

Bank accounts are different than real estate property. The real estate property in terms of Article 30 Part 1 of the Civil Process Code of Russian Federation is: land parcels, subsoil parcels, water sources, forests, gardens, buildings, including residential and commercial, houses, other constructions solidly connected with land.

Nerveless I think that Russian court does not have any right to divide your foreign accounts. There are many reasons for that: provisions of Article 161 Part 1 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation (see above), the absence of agreement between our countries about legal help, the absence of the mechanism for concluding and execution of such decision, provision of the lawsuit.

Even if the fact that everything is in your favor, in the case your wife files such suit, you will need a professional lawyer.

I think that property division should not be in the same process with divorce. If these requirement are filed simultaneously, judge by request of respondent and in accordance to Article 151 Part 2 of the Civil Process Code of Russian Federation will have to extract property matter into a separate case.

Yes, if you file your divorce and property division suit to the American court first, you will release all the other questions, since if your wife files a suit in Russia, her case will be repetitive and should be left without consideration.

If the decision on this matter will be made in United States, the repetitive consideration of the case between the same parties about the same subject is not acceptable.

Karina Krasnova