I am in the process of divorcing in U.S.A. a Russian citizen. During the marriage (3 years) 2 new-built apartments were purchased in her name with funds I mostly provided. I do not know their addresses.

Can their addresses be found by title (or other) search? Either she or her mother are the owners of record.

My understanding is that by Russian law she is unable to sell these properties while married without my written agreement: is this true? And is there a way to put a charge or lien on the properties so that any buyer would be certain to know that the property could not be sold without my agreement?

Any other advice in this regard would be greatly appreciated.

I would like to seek legal advice on behalf of my brother. He is willing to get a divorce but he is in a complicated situation and does not know where to seek help and legal assistance.

Here is his story: my brother is an American citizen. In 2008, he married a Russian woman in St. Petersburg, a babygirl was born in 2009 in St. Petersburg, the baby is both American and Russian.

Due to serious reasons, my brother wants now to divorce. However, my brother is very attached to his 18 months old daughter and is afraid that his divorce will prevent him from seeing her. Indeed, my brother and his current wife live in Russia where they got married.

My brother does not speak Russian and it is very hard to find English speaking lawyers in St. Petersburg.

As he got married in Russia, he assumes that he will have to divorce in Russia, not in United States, is this right?

Also, if he divorces in Russia, do you know what the procedures are and what the chances are for him to get the shared custody for his daughter? He is ready to stay in Russia after the divorce just for the sake of his relationship with his daughter. He is very attached to her and is a fantastic father.

The main issue for my brother is the child's custody, how can he be sure that he will get a shared custody from Russian courts?

I hope you can provide me with some replies and legal advice as this is quite urgent.

If you need more details on this case, do not hesitate to contact me.

Many thanks in advance for your kind reply.

This is the issue!

My wife has a first residence permit to stay 2 years in Holland and then she can have extension on the permit without any problem.

But as she is divorced from her former husband since many years and he is living with his new wife in France since some years with a working permit there. He is also an Russian citizen.

They have a boy together that is 6 years old and the father don't pay any attention anytime to his son, only his mother the grandmother wants to see his sons son.

We have been trying to get the boy Leonid's father to sign a document that allows us to take Leonid with us to Holland.

But for about little more than one year he has refused to sign such a paper.

Now since 6 months he said that he will write this document when he comes back to Russia for some holyday.

First he said that he would come in August this year, but then he didn't had any time because very much work load. Now he says that he for certain will come at Christmas time and sign this paper.

The issue now is that a lawyer today said to my wife Svetlana, that now it's not possible to write a permission that allows her son to be in Holland more than one year. After this year she said that we need a new permission to stay in Holland and also have to come back to Russia to sign such a new permission document?

We now wonder if this is correct, even if his father agrees on that Leonid can live in Holland. The issue is also that it's much more easy to travel between France and Holland as both countries are members of the European Union. This will be good for both parties.

If this is the case with the permission, how can we proceed to solve this as we want Leonid to go in school here in Holland and live with us!

We don't have anything against that Leonids father can visit his son or see him.
My wife is also very worried about if she can trust the father's family and if she also agree to sign a look-a-like document that allows his father to take Leonid to France, will they allow him to come back!

The son Leonid don't want to stay with his father, and that can be because he has earlier mismanaged the time when he had his son. He didn't take care of him properly and did drink a lot of alcohol and didn't take any notice of his boy.

Please help us and direct us with this matter!

Dear Karina Krasnova,

It was a pleasure reading your informative site.
Coming to the point. I intend to marry a Russian woman who has been divorced 11 years ago. She is present is pregnant with our baby.

She has two children of previous marriage. Her ex-husband is a drug addict and had defaulted all alimony payments for the last 11 years. She has a son aged 14 and a daughter aged 12 years.

She is expecting our baby in the first week of October. She has custody of her two children of the previous marriage and we wish to bring them to Turkey. Her ex-husband has told that he will not permit the children to leave Russia.

I have read from your site that we do not require such a permission from him but also it was mentioned elsewhere that if the father has restricted the children from going abroad and staying with mother we have to get a court order in place before they leave the country.

We seek your council and assistance if such a court order is required. As my fiancee is in her last months of her pregnancy I wish to get her and the children over at the earliest. Also the schools in Turkey reopen in September and we wish they could be here in time.

Please advice and we shall do accordingly.

Dear Mrs. Duvall,

Thank your for your quick response.

I'm Egyptian Living in Egypt, and my Wife is Living in Russia with the child.
My situation is as follow:

I was married in 2002 in Egypt and the marriage were registered in Russian Embassy, and got child born in Egypt and registered in the Russian embassy as well.

We got divorced in 2009 in Egypt and the Divorce were registered in Russian Embassy.

Then we got re-married in 2010, but as I knew it wasn't registered in Embassy nor in Russia, but according to Egyptian government our marriage is still valid.

Since then My wife or Ex-wife, left to Russia for vacation and took our little daughter and stayed in Russia, as by this Time I was working abroad so it was no need for her to stay in Egypt alone.

since then I didn't see my daughter and she is just black mailing me for money to see my daughter.

just for instance I have to send every couple of months extra money, more than what I'm sending on a monthly / Quarterly basis, just with the promise that I can see her (but never happened).

Now she already bought a flat in Moscow with this money, and forcing me to pay the installments just with the reason if I can let my daughter be on the street.

Now as she is gonna marry in Russia (despite we are still married in Egypt), and for me as I'm a Muslim, it's not acceptable to let my daughter to live with a stranger, need your help and advice's please.

N.B. I don't want make troubles for her, I just need to raise my kid in a good and healthy environment.

Your feed back and help is really very appreciated.

The documents will send to you next week as I'm out of Egypt for the moment.

hi my name is Maria, I was adopted when i was 5 years old. I'm now 24 years wanna go back to Saint Petersburg! but my adoptive mom won't let me. I need help on what to do!

If the Amicable Agreement does not enumerate a custodial parent's right to remove a child from a country does Russian Law impute the requirement to obtain approval from the non-custodial parent?

Does Russian Law recognize "nee exeat" *? If so, please define the rights
recognized thereby and whether the Amicable Agreement address those rights.

* Nea Exeat is a term referring to a prohibition from relocating from the country with a child or children without the other parent’s consent. This can arise by either court order applicable to the specific parties or by operation of law which applies to all. Some countries have this prohibition as a matter of law while others require that you specifically include it in the divorce or seek a special order to that effect.

Please define what "rights of communication/access" granted to her X-husband by the Amicable Agreement. What do these rights include. Specifically does he have the right to determine her son's place of residence ("Habitual
Residence").

Does Russian law give mother the right to live where she chooses,
including the right to determine her son's habitual residence? Also, does the amiciable agreement give mother the right to leave Russia with her son?