DIVISION OF JOINT PROPERTY AND DEBT AT RUSSIAN DIVORCE AND SEPARATION DISSOLUTION OF JOINT PROPERTY OWNERSHIP IN RUSSIA

Important Disclaimer

The below Family Law text on dividing common property and debt in Russia should be used for information purposes only and appropriate legal advice should be sought as and when appropriate.

For legal advice on dissolution of property and debt in Russian divorce contact Mr Maxim POLYAKOV, your Russian qualified lawyer, member of the Moscow City Bar Association, tel. +7-495-518-72-62, email maxim@arbitratus.ru (English or Russian).

The Family Code of the Russian Federation

Chapter 7. The Legal Regime of the Spouses' Property

Article 33. The Concept of the Legal Regime of the Spouses' Property

1. The legal regime of the spouses' property shall be the regime of their joint property. The legal regime of the spouses' property shall operate, unless otherwise is stipulated by the marriage contract.

2. The rights of the spouses to possess, use and dispose of property which is joint property of the members of a peasant (of a farmer's) economy, shall be defined by Article 257 and Article 258 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

Article 34. The Spouses' Joint Property

1. The property acquired by the spouses during their marriage, shall be their joint property.

2. To the property, acquired by the spouses during their marriage (to the spouses' joint property) shall be referred the incomes of each of the spouses from his labour activity, from his business activity and from the results of his intellectual activity, pensions and allowances, received by both of them, and also the other monetary receipts, which are not specially target-oriented (sums of material assistance, those paid out in compensation for a loss inflicted by disablement because of a grave injury or because of another damage done to the health, etc.). The spouses' joint property shall also be the movable and the immovable things and securities, acquired at the expense of their joint incomes, participation shares, deposits and shares in capital put into credit institutions or into other kinds of commercial organizations, and any other property acquired by the spouses in the period of their marriage, regardless of the name of which of the spouses it was acquired or the name of which of the spouses the monetary means were put in.

3. The right to the spouses' joint property shall also be enjoyed by the spouse who kept the house or who looked after the children in the period of the marriage, or who did not have an independent income because of other valid reasons.

Article 35. Possession, Use and Disposal of the Spouses' Joint Property

1. The spouses' joint property shall be possessed, used and disposed of by the mutual consent of the spouses.

2. When one of the spouses makes deals involved in the disposal of the spouses' joint property, it shall be assumed that he acts with the consent of the other spouse. A transaction, effected by one of the spouses involved in the disposal of the spouses' joint property, may be recognized as invalid by court on the motives of the absence of the other spouse's consent only upon his claim and only if it is proved that the other party to the deal was aware or should have been aware of the other spouse's non-consent to making the given transaction.

3. For one of the spouses to effect a transaction involved in the disposal of immovable property, and also a deal requiring notarial certification and (or) registration in conformity with the law-established procedure, it shall be necessary to obtain a notarially certified consent of the other spouse.

The spouse whose notarially certified consent to making the given deal was not obtained, shall have the right to demand that the deal be recognized as invalid by the court within a year from the date, when he has learned or when he should have learned about the performance of the given deal.

Federal Law No. 231-FZ of December 18, 2006 amended Article 36 of this Code. The amendments shall enter into force from January 1, 2008 See the Article in the previous wording.

Article 36. The Property of Each of the Spouses

1. The property which belonged to each of the spouses before his entering into the marriage, and also the property, received by one of the spouses during their marriage by way of inheritance or by other gratuitous deals (the property of each of the spouses), shall be his own property.

2. Items of individual use (clothes, footwear, etc.), with the exception of jewellry and other luxury articles, even though acquired in the period of the marriage at the expense of the spouses' common means, shall be recognized as the property of that spouse, who used them.

3. An exclusive right to the result of intellectual activity created by one of the spouses shall belong to the author of such result.

Article 37. Recognizing the Property of Each of the Spouses as Their Joint Property

The property of each of the spouses may be recognized as their joint property if it is established that in the period of the marriage at the expense of the spouses' common property or of the property of each of the spouses, or of the labour of one of the spouses deposits were made, which considerably increased the value of this property (capital repairs, reconstruction, re-equipment, etc.).

Article 38. Division of the Spouses' Common Property

1. The division of the spouses' common property may be effected both during the period of the marriage and after its dissolution upon the demand of one of the spouses, and also if the creditor makes a claim for the division of the spouses' common property in order to turn the exaction onto the share of one of the spouses in the spouses' common property.

2. The spouses' common property may be divided between the spouses by their agreement. At the wish of the spouses, their agreement on the division of the common property may be notarially certified.

3. In the case of a dispute, the division of the spouses' common property and also the delineation of the spouses' shares in this property shall be effected in court.

While dividing the spouses' common property, the court shall define, at the demand of the spouses, what property shall be subject to transfer to each of the spouses. If the value of the property transferred to one of the spouses exceeds the share due to him, the other spouse may be adjudged the corresponding monetary or other kind of compensation.

4. The court may recognize the property, acquired by each of the spouses in the period of their living apart after terminating the conjugal relations, as the property of each of them.

5. The items acquired exclusively for satisfying the needs of underaged children (clothes, footwear, school things and sports accessories, musical instruments, the children's books, etc.) shall not be subject to division and shall be transferred without compensation to the spouse with whom the children live.

The deposits made by the spouses at the expense of the spouses' common property to the name of their common underaged children, shall be regarded as belonging to these children and shall not be taken into account, when dividing the spouses' common property.

6. If the spouses' common property is divided in the period of their marriage, the part of the spouses' common property, which was not divided, and also the property acquired by the spouses subsequently in the period of their marriage, shall comprise their joint property.

7. To claims for dividing the common property made by the spouses whose marriage was dissolved, a three-year term of legal limitation shall be applied.

Article 39. Delineation of the Shares in the Division of the Spouses' Common Property

1. When dividing the spouses' common property and delineating the shares in this property, the spouses' shares shall be recognized as equal, unless otherwise is stipulated by the contract concluded between the spouses.

2. The court shall have the right to depart from the principle of equality of the spouses' shares in their common property, proceeding from the interests of underaged children and (or) from the essential interests of one of the spouses, in particular, in the cases, when the other spouse did not derive any income because of invalid reasons, or if he/she squandered the spouses' common property to the detriment of the interests of the family.

3. In dividing the spouses' common property, the spouses' common debts shall be distributed between them in proportion to their adjudged shares.

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Important Disclaimer

The below Family Law text on dividing common property and debt in Russia should be used for information purposes only and appropriate legal advice should be sought as and when appropriate.

For legal advice on dissolution of property and debt in Russian divorce contact Mr Maxim POLYAKOV, your Russian qualified lawyer, member of the Moscow City Bar Association, tel. +7-495-518-72-62, email maxim@arbitratus.ru (English or Russian).