I will try to give you as much information as possible should some of the details be of use. My Russian wife and I have been married for 2 years. She arrived on a K-1 visa and currently has a Green Card. We got married and have a beautiful 6 month old daughter. I am employed full time and she stays home to take care of our daughter. Her English is not very good and she does not know how to drive. She has always exhibited very angry and explosive behavior, but it has gotten much worse recently. I am trying to get her to go to a counselor with me, but she is reluctant to seek help. Given her anger and instability, I am afraid that I might have to try to take my daughter from her and I would like to understand the following:

1. What are Russian and American laws concerning custody of young children? Is it ever possible for the father to get custody of a daughter in a situation like this? Aside from two occasions where I drank too much and blacked out (one was our wedding night), she has no evidence that I am an unfit father.

2. I have video, audio, and text messages (collected over the course of more than 1 year) showing that my wife is unstable and, at times, incapable of taking care of our daughter. Could this ever be admitted as evidence in a custody hearing? The files are in Russian and/or English and would have to be translated – is this something that you or your office could do? If so, how much would this cost?

3. If my wife takes my daughter back to Russia, do I have any legitimate guarantees that I will be able to see her? If my wife tries to prevent me from seeing my daughter, is there a way through Russian courts for me to be able to see her?

4. What happens to her immigration status if we file for a divorce? I assume that she would be able to travel back to the US, but she would have to apply for a visa every time – is that correct?

5. What financial obligations do I have if my wife returns to Russia with our daughter? What if she returns by herself? We do not own property and I am not wealthy.

6. What would you estimate the cost of pursuing a divorce in these circumstances? What is the expected time-frame to complete everything?

7. Based on your experience with others and the information contained herein, are there any other circumstances of which I should be aware?

Please let me know if you have any questions or need any clarifications.

Hello Karina –

Thank you very much for your recent response and consultation. I'm hoping that as a part of this consultation, you wouldn't mind clarifying a couple of points from your response that left me wondering. I hope you a couple of questions regarding your consultation will be ok for you.

The first point is as follows: In your consultation, you suggest obtaining a visa other than a K-3 or medical visa for my fiancée’s child. Can you clarify this, by suggesting what kind of visa would be best for our situation. Really, a couple of different suggestions would be ideal.

Along with this, if we seek a different visa for my fiancée’s child, then on what basis would we ask for the Ukrainian court’s permission to take the child out of Ukraine?

These really are the two most helpful pieces of information you can give us as a part of our consultation.

I'm an American married to a Russian woman for the past 7 years. We married in 2008 in Moscow and have lived in the Netherlands for the entire time. I bought properties during marriage with money I had earned long before marriage. These are mostly in another European country.

When I purchased them I was required to give wife's consent as I was married.

We are currently discussing divorce.

Will I be obligated to give her a portion of these properties by law under divorce settlement?

Dear Karina Duvall,

I've decided to go ahead and seek a paid consultation with you. Per your request, I've paid the consultation fee at your website. Clearly, I hope that you'll be able to help me and my fiance out.

So, as previously mentioned, our situation is as follows. I’m a US citizen who is engaged to a Ukrainian woman. At the moment we are applying for a K-1 fiancee visa. Our major problem is that her ex-husband will not give us permission to take their son out of Ukraine. It should also be said that denying him custody of the child here in Ukraine will be impossible. He doesn’t do very much for his son, but apparently the ex does just enough. With all of that being said, we are still planning on bringing the child to the States. My questions now are two-fold.

First, once in the US, would it be possible to file for custody in a family court in the US? If so, how can we prepare for this eventuality now? What sort of advice could you offer now, and would this be a case you could take on in the near future?

Also, I should mention that I’m very worried about the possibility of my fiance’s ex-husband haunting us later in the future. While my fiancee is applying for a K-1 fiancee visa, we are planning on asking a Ukrainian court for permission to take the child from Ukraine on medical grounds. With that being said, I want to know what we can do (or even if this is the best strategy) to mitigate (or even prevent) the possibility of her ex-husband showing that the child was removed from Ukraine on false pretenses. Any advice or guidance you can offer in this would also be greatly appreciated.

I hope I've explained our situation adequately. Please let me know if you have any questions. Many thanks, and I look forward to your response.

I am writing a story about divorce in Russia. I would like to interview you and have your opinion on the subject.

These are the questions i would like to address:

1. What are the main reasons, according to you, behind the high divorce rates in Russia?

2. Do you believe that these issues might be related to marrying early, infidelity, alcoholism?

3. What has the government done now and what more can it do to affect the divorce rate?

4. How many divorces to you handle a year?

5. Are divorces easier in Russia? If yes, why?

6. What part to children play in the divorce? What is the perspective in Russia toward paying child support etc.?

7. Do you see a change in trend in the past two decades? Are younger people not going to have such a high divorce rate? If yes, why?

8. Lastly, have I forgotten anything on the subject? If yes please write any additional comment.

Thank you very much!

What Is the Difference between Contested and Uncontested Divorce Proceedings?

How Long Does a Divorce Take?

Do I Need a Settlement Agreement in My Case?

How Can I Prevent My Spouse from Transferring Our Property into His/Her Name?

Is All My Property Will Be Subject to Distribution upon My Divorce?