Family relations are governed by the norms of the Family Code of Ukraine as amended in the territory of the Republic. The Family Code establishes that marriage is based on the free consent of a woman and a man. Forcing a woman and a man to marry is not allowed.
The termination of a marital relationship occurs under certain circumstances.
According to Article 104 of the FC of Ukraine, a marriage is ceased due to the death of one of the spouses or the announcement of him as deceased, as well as by its dissolution on the application of the spouses or one of them by a court or a registry office.
Dissolution of a marriage through the registry office is the simplest way to terminate family relations between spouses who have no common minor children. In this case, it is necessary to contact the registry office at the place of registration of one of the spouses and submit an application confirming the spouses’ intention to divorce. It should be borne in mind that such a procedure can be applied only if the spouses have expressed mutual consent to divorce and do not have minor children, and the wife is not pregnant at the time of application.
Registration of divorce in the registry office is not an obstacle to the division of the spouses’ property in the event of disputes about property in the future.
Dissolution of a marriage with persons, who are recognized as missing or incapacitated, regardless of whether the spouses have minor children or a property dispute between them, is carried out exclusively by the registry office on the application of one of the spouses (Article 107 of the FC of Ukraine). In this case, it is necessary to provide a court decision on recognition of one of the spouses as missing or incompetent to the registry office. The specified procedure for dissolution of a marriage does not apply to cases of dissolution of a marriage with persons whose civil legal capacity is limited by the court in accordance with Article 36 of the CC of Ukraine.
In the event that the spouses have minor children, or one of the spouses objects to the dissolution of the marriage, such a marriage can only be dissolved in a court.
Dissolution of a marriage in a court is carried out by the relevant courts of general jurisdiction of the Donetsk People’s Republic in order of a special or action proceedings based on a submitted application or claim, respectively.
In a special proceeding, cases of divorce are considered on the joint application of spouses with children (Clause 3 of Article 234 of the Code of Civil Procedure of Ukraine). A characteristic feature of such cases is the presence of consent between the husband and wife (spouses) to terminate the family and marriage relationship. Together with a joint application in a special procedure, the spouses submit to the court a written agreement, with whom the children will live, how the parent, who will live separately will take part in ensuring their living conditions, and also on the conditions for exercising their right for the personal education of children. According to Clause 2 of Article 109 of the FC of Ukraine, an agreement between spouses on the amount of alimony for a child must be notarized.
In an action proceeding, the courts of general jurisdiction of the DPR are considering cases of divorce in cases where one of the spouses objects to the dissolution of the marriage or evades filing a joint application to the registry office or the court.
It should be remembered that a claim for dissolution of the marriage cannot be filed by one of the spouses during the period of the wife’s pregnancy and for one year after the birth of the child, except for cases when one of the spouses has committed an illegal act that contains signs of a crime against the child or another of the spouses. At the same time, a claim for dissolution of the marriage during the pregnancy of the wife can be filed if the paternity of the conceived child is recognized by another person in the prescribed manner by filing an application for recognition of paternity. Also, a husband and wife have the right to file a claim for dissolution of a marriage before the child reaches one year of age, if paternity in respect of him is recognized by another person or, by a court decision, the statements about the child’s father are excluded from the record of the child’s birth.
Thus, the decision to dissolve a marriage should be considered, balanced, since the fact of divorce entails certain legal consequences.
