Divorce Without a Lawyer | Divorce on your own, without a lawyer

Contents

Divorce in Ukraine without a lawyer (on your own)
Preparation of a statement of claim in Ukraine
Payment of Court Fee in Ukraine
Submission of documents to court in Ukraine
Participation in court hearings in Ukraine

Divorce in Ukraine without a lawyer (on your own)

In order to part in court without a lawyer, you, as a plaintiff in the case, must first determine the scope of this case and how it happens.

The jurisdiction of cases is determined by the registered place of residence of the defendant. Consideration is possible at the place of your residence (the plaintiff) in case of poor health that prevents you from arriving in the area of residence of the defendant.
If you have minor children left with you, you can apply to the court according to your place of residence (for the court you will need a certificate of the child’s residence with you).

Preparation of a statement of claim in Ukraine

In the statement of claim, it is imperative to indicate information about your registration, actual place of residence and contact phone number. The same information must be provided about the defendant. And also other grounds:

On what grounds was your marriage registered (certificate, etc.);
Do you have common children (if yes, indicate their full name and add birth certificates);
Or your actual marriage relationship has ceased (you live separately, there is no household and compatible life);
There are other disputes between you, except for divorce (disputes regarding alimony, division of property, children, etc.);

The claim must be accompanied by a copy of your passport and taxpayer code, a child’s birth certificate (if any), a copy of the defendant’s passport and taxpayer code (if any) and copies of receipts for payment of court fees.

In the absence of this information, your claim will be left by the court without consideration. If you intend to conduct the divorce process without a lawyer, we strongly recommend that you familiarize yourself with the provisions on transactions of the Civil Code of Ukraine, the Civil Procedure Code and the Family Code before drawing up an application, in order to study and analyze the legal requirements for the claim and other documents.

Payment of Court Fee in Ukraine

The court fee on the filed claim must be paid on time and in full. Payment details of the fee are available directly in the district court or on the court’s website. To accurately determine the court fee, you should use the official court portal, yaki independently (by the type of service calculates the cost) – power Ukraine [/ mask_link].

In case of insufficient or incomplete payment of the court fee, the court will be forced not to consider the case on the merits until the full payment.

Also useful information on the website “Divorce Online” of the family lawyer Alexei Nikolayevich Scriabin for you may be: state duty for divorce, divorce certificate, restoration of a divorce certificate, invalidity of marriage, age of marriage in Ukraine, restoration of marriage, divorce in the presence of joint minor children, refusal to divorce, divorce during pregnancy.

Submission of documents to court in Ukraine

After you have prepared the legal claim and paid the court fee, you need to print it in three copies (two of which you submit to the court along with the attachments, and on the third, the court officials carry out a mark on the receipt of the claim). You keep the third copy.

This is very important as your copy is proof of the registration of the claim. In the event that you decide to go to court without the help of a lawyer, in the future you should constantly monitor the progress of your claim on the official websites of the judiciary.

To do this, you need to enter the full name of the court in the search box on the Internet and find a site with the designation “court.gov.ua”, which is the official designation of judicial sites in Ukraine.

Participation in court hearings in Ukraine

After you file a lawsuit, the court makes inquiries with the residence registration authorities in order to verify the authenticity of your registration, which takes about two weeks. If you are taking part in a trial without a lawyer, the court, after initiating civil proceedings by means of a subpoena (electronic notification), summons you to court.

At the time and date specified in the summons, you will appear in court, having with you all the necessary originals of documents. It will be important to note that the timely arrival at the court is very important, since this factor, among other things, is subject to subjective assessment by the court staff, and may have consequences in the course of civil proceedings.

If you are late, the court will postpone the meeting date (usually a month). In case of repeated failure to appear in court, it closes the civil case and leaves your claim without consideration, without turning the court fee.

During the divorce hearing, you need to prove that the marriage is actually terminated and there is no point in continuing it. You need to prove this with objective arguments, for example, a description of existing conflicts, unwillingness to live together and lead a life, different views on the future, committing offenses or family violence against you, and the like.

If you (as the plaintiff) and the defendant come to the first meeting, and both insist on divorce, then the court may be a quick decision on divorce (at one meeting).

In the event of the defendant’s objection to divorce, most often the court provides time for reconciliation of the parties, which consists in postponing the trial for 1-3 months, in order to provide time for the spouses to make another decision or improve relations.

At the end of this period, unless you (as the plaintiff) change your mind, the court will accept a divorce.