The couple got divorced abroad. How to legalize the dissolution of marriage in Russia?
Unified State Register of Civil Status Acts.
Since October 1, 2018, the Unified State Register of Civil Status Acts (USR ZAGS) has been maintained throughout the Russian Federation in the federal state information system for maintaining the register (FGIS "USR ZAGS"), the operator of which is the Federal Tax Service of Russia.
USR ZAGS is a state information resource that includes information on state registration of civil status acts from 1926 to the present.
State registration of civil status acts in the Russian Federation is carried out in accordance with the requirements of the Federal Law of November 15, 1997 No. 143-FZ "On Civil Status Acts".
USR ZAGS is a state information resource that includes information on state registration of civil status acts from 1926 to the present.
State registration of civil status acts in the Russian Federation is carried out in accordance with the requirements of the Federal Law of November 15, 1997 No. 143-FZ "On Civil Status Acts".
Notification of Marriage Registration Abroad.
RF Government Resolution No. 1193 of October 4, 2018 established that information about the fact of registration of a civil status act in relation to a citizen of the Russian Federation by the competent authority of a foreign state is sent by such citizen to the civil registry office at his place of residence or a consular office no later than one month from the date of registration. The registration notification is drawn up in the form approved by the Ministry of Finance of Russia in agreement with the Ministry of Justice of Russia and the Federal Tax Service of Russia, and is sent in one of the following ways:
RF Government Resolution No. 1193 of October 4, 2018 established that information about the fact of registration of a civil status act in relation to a citizen of the Russian Federation by the competent authority of a foreign state is sent by such citizen to the civil registry office at his place of residence or a consular office no later than one month from the date of registration. The registration notification is drawn up in the form approved by the Ministry of Finance of Russia in agreement with the Ministry of Justice of Russia and the Federal Tax Service of Russia, and is sent in one of the following ways:
- by mail;
- in person;
- through the unified portal of public services (not used when sending a notification to a consular office).
Copies of the following are attached to the registration notification:
The notification shall contain information on the legalization of the document of a foreign state or on the affixing of an apostille on it, or on the refusal of the competent authority of the Russian Federation to provide such legalization, indicating the reasons for the refusal.
If information on documents of a foreign state is provided for several citizens of the Russian Federation, a joint notification of registration may be sent.
The authorities receiving documents shall, within two working days from the date of receipt of the notification of registration sent by mail, and one working day - through a single portal or in person, review it and include information on the document of a foreign state in the Unified State Register of Civil Registry Offices or refuse to include it. It has been determined that the inclusion of information on such documents in the register does not constitute recognition of the document of a foreign state as valid in the Russian Federation.
- document of the competent authority of a foreign state with an attached translation into Russian;
- identity document of a citizen of the Russian Federation;
- identity document of a foreign citizen (if the citizen of the Russian Federation has citizenship of a foreign state).
The notification shall contain information on the legalization of the document of a foreign state or on the affixing of an apostille on it, or on the refusal of the competent authority of the Russian Federation to provide such legalization, indicating the reasons for the refusal.
If information on documents of a foreign state is provided for several citizens of the Russian Federation, a joint notification of registration may be sent.
The authorities receiving documents shall, within two working days from the date of receipt of the notification of registration sent by mail, and one working day - through a single portal or in person, review it and include information on the document of a foreign state in the Unified State Register of Civil Registry Offices or refuse to include it. It has been determined that the inclusion of information on such documents in the register does not constitute recognition of the document of a foreign state as valid in the Russian Federation.
Recognition and enforcement of a foreign court decision on divorce.
Recognition of foreign decisions on divorce in the Russian Federation means that the foreign decision is recognized as having the same legal force as the decision of Russian courts (or civil registry offices) on divorce. The presence of a foreign decision on divorce provides grounds to consider the spouses as having dissolved the marriage. In this case, state registration of the divorce performed by a foreign court is not required in the manner established for state registration of acts of civil status (clause 2, Article 25 of the RF Family Code).
A foreign court decision on divorce is recognized in the Russian Federation and does not require enforcement (Article 415 of the RF Civil Procedure Code). The procedure stipulated by the norms of Article 413 of the RF Civil Procedure Code does not apply to such decisions of foreign courts. These foreign decisions can be directly presented to any subjects in the Russian Federation, which are obliged to take their content into account.
The civil registry office does not issue a certificate of divorce based on a foreign court decision. The Russian civil registry office is not obliged to issue a certificate on its basis.
If the marriage is dissolved abroad in compliance with foreign legislation at the place of the divorce and such foreign legislation does not require, in addition to the court decision, other documents confirming the fact of the divorce, then there are no legal grounds for executing such a decision in the territory of the Russian Federation in the form of issuing a certificate of divorce.
Recognition of foreign decisions on divorce in the Russian Federation means that the foreign decision is recognized as having the same legal force as the decision of Russian courts (or civil registry offices) on divorce. The presence of a foreign decision on divorce provides grounds to consider the spouses as having dissolved the marriage. In this case, state registration of the divorce performed by a foreign court is not required in the manner established for state registration of acts of civil status (clause 2, Article 25 of the RF Family Code).
A foreign court decision on divorce is recognized in the Russian Federation and does not require enforcement (Article 415 of the RF Civil Procedure Code). The procedure stipulated by the norms of Article 413 of the RF Civil Procedure Code does not apply to such decisions of foreign courts. These foreign decisions can be directly presented to any subjects in the Russian Federation, which are obliged to take their content into account.
The civil registry office does not issue a certificate of divorce based on a foreign court decision. The Russian civil registry office is not obliged to issue a certificate on its basis.
If the marriage is dissolved abroad in compliance with foreign legislation at the place of the divorce and such foreign legislation does not require, in addition to the court decision, other documents confirming the fact of the divorce, then there are no legal grounds for executing such a decision in the territory of the Russian Federation in the form of issuing a certificate of divorce.
In practice, two situations arise:
- Foreign legislation provides for obtaining a certificate of divorce. Information about the divorce is entered into the Unified State Register of Civil Status by sending a notification, as provided for by RF Government Resolution No. 1193 of 04.10.2018, based on an apostilled copy of the foreign court decision and a foreign certificate of divorce with their notarized translation.
- Foreign legislation does not provide for obtaining a certificate of divorce. In this case, the final document is an apostilled copy of the foreign court decision with a notarized translation into Russian. In this case, entering information about the divorce into the Unified State Register of Civil Status is possible only with a personal visit to the Russian Civil Status Office.