About visitations and relocation international case

Only one target from your three goals is reachable.

You definitely can visit your children and communicate with them by Skype. But it is unrealistic to take children to the United States even for summer time and, especially, for permanent residence.

Moreover, according to article 57 of the Russian Family code, children shall have the right to express their opinion in resolving any family issues, which infringes upon kids interests, and also to be heard in any court or administrative hearings. It shall be obligatory to take into account the child’s opinion who has reached the age of 10 years, except for in the cases when this is contrary to child’s interests. In the cases stipulated by the Russian Family Code, the Child Protective Services (CPS) or the court shall be able to take the decision only with the consent of the child who has reached the age of 10 years.

Your older son is 14 y.o. Your younger son is almost 10 y.o. Their opinions will be valuable in the court room. Since the children are in 100% by mother’s control, I see zero chances that your children will support you in that hearing. You will lose relocation case almost for sure.

According to my point of view, you need to file visitation case and ask the Court to provide to you visitations with kids in Moscow only. You also need to get skype conversations on weekly basis. You need to establish good relationship with your kids, let them understand that you are a loving father, and as result, they will come to you when they will reach 18. I assume you have read this article https://russian-divorce.com/articles/a579/, where story 1 is real story of my client. He never missed his visitations, and his older daughter decided to move to the United States after she reached 18.

So, your main intention supposed to be to establish visitations plan. American order is irrelevant for Russian court because it shows your intentions to take children to New York, which never can be approved by Russian Court. If you want to file case in Russia, you need to provide the power of attorney to your representative (me or other attorney by your choice) and children’s birth certificates which shows you are the father and consequently you have rights to visit your children. The court may ask you to provide you police certificate to prove you are decent person, and other evidences depends of your situation.

I am not sure it is good idea to see your children secretly. It is dangerous for you, and if the mother, your children, or someone else will call the police, you can be arrested. This is not what you need if you expect to get good result in the court.

Please also let me know if you want to hire me and what are your expectations if yes.