(1) If we are married in NYC can she sue for divorce in Russia?

(2) Is the NYC marriage (apostille document) recognized in Russia without any additional paperwork?

(3) Is the apostille document enough to change her Russian passport last name to mine and show she is married?

(4) Final question: if she does, what happens with a prenuptial US contract that we have in NYC?

Thank you for your quick response. I was hesitant to contact you since your specialty is Divorce, but after reading your website and biography I am very confident that you have the skills in Russian American Marriage, Family Law, and related Child Support to be best suited to give us a quality initial consultation. This is a situation where you may be able to help bring a marriage together and or help a Single Russian Mom who loves her children and likewise they love their mother obtain a fair level of child support.

What is most important to us is that you provide a good initial consultation along with financial estimates for any legal work you may foresee so I can compare with my budget and make decisions. For example I am forecasting budget as it pertains to processing and filing fiancé Visa along with K1 children immigrant visas for my Russian Lady Friend and her children. Because children are involved and fathers may or may not be co-operative if that is a requirement, I want to be conservative as it may be better for me to divert these funds into child support issues if it’s determined that you might be able to help her obtain more child support to ease the difficult situation she is in.

I want what is best for her and her children and for them to have a fair chance at future success as a family with or without me. So I guess to generalize, we are looking to get advice for the following questions:

1. Is there a “reasonable path” that she could follow for her and her children to relocate to the USA as some point in the future. If we have to get the permission of fathers for her and I to marry and keep the children together, my feeling is that its probably better to retain a Lawyer to professionally handle the process since “emotions” are removed and you are expert in the Area of Russian Family Law and the Art of Negotiation.

2. If there is not a “reasonable path” for her to come to USA per # 1, is there a “reasonable path” where you may have legal tools available to help her obtain higher child support from her children’s fathers to ease her hardship. My understanding is that her 8 year daughter’s father pays equivalent to 1 USD per day in child support and has had no involvement with daughter for several years. She explained to me that he is remarried has children by that marriage and works for his brother who helps him conceal his real income both tangible and intangible. Regarding her 3 year old Son’s father, it appeared to me during my discussion with her that he makes a “good faith” attempt to voluntarily pay a reasonable child support amount but its always based on how much he is willing to pay and when and if, which leaves her always in a “perpetual state” of if she will able to feed her son the following week and so on. I did some basic Google research and noticed a Russian Law that states 25% of income should be paid per child regarding support, I have no clue if the Russian legal systems leaves you as Lawyer with any discovery and or enforcement ability that you can avail to help her and her children.

3. If there is not a “reasonable path” for assisting her regarding items # 1 and # 2 we would appreciate your honesty in stating that. It allows me to write off the fathers and solely focus on helping her with the resource I have available. I had told her that I am supportive of her regardless if I will be able to marry her if she wants that and if I will only be a distant friend that is there in the background to catch her fall and do my best to help carve a path towards a positive future for her and her children.

WHAT IF MY SPOUSE WON'T GIVE ME A DIVORCE?

IF I HAVE OTHER QUESTIONS, WHAT SHOULD I DO?

As Martin has probably informed you, the most pressing issue in the dispute between Martin and his wife, Olga, is Olga’s removal of the Children from oted Kingdom to Russia without his consent. She’d brought the Children to Russia, left them with her parents and returned to United Kingdom herself.

As background, Olga had in filed an application for sole custody, care and control of the Children with supervised access to Martin. Martin had then filed a cross application for joint custody, care and control of the children with reasonable access to Olga. Olga removed the Children from United Kingdom after this.

To remedy Olga’s removal of the Children, we filed an application for urgent return of the Children to United Kingdom, and for their passports to be held by us. The Court granted this application and ordered that Olga bring the Children back to United Kingdom.

Then Olga went to the United Kingdom court on her own and filed a notice of intention to act in person without informing her solicitors of this. At the same time, she tendered a handwritten letter to court withdrawing her application for custody, care and control of the children in UK, stating that she believes Russia is the more appropriate forum to adjudicate these issues. She also wrote that she has filed divorce proceedings in Russia.

The UK court responded by fixing a case conference for Olga and parties’ lawyers to attend. Olga failed to turn up.
We pushed for the hearing for the custody applications to stand. The court directed the same.

At the new hearing Olga again did not turn up. We submitted that the Court has the power and should hear the application even in Olga’s absence. The Court heard the matter on merits and granted an order in terms of our application.

Olga has to date not complied with the return order and Martin understands that she has left to Russia to be with the Children and is hesitant to return to United Kingdom for fear of sanctions for her breach of the return order.

We believe the necessary substantive orders have been obtained from the United Kingdom Courts. What is necessary now is for these orders to be recognized and enforced in Russia. Could you please let us have your advice on what needs to be done and how we can assist in the Russian Process?

Please feel free to let us know if you require more information or clarification. We look forward to working with you.

Will my Russian divorce be recognized in the United States?

Dear Karina

As you know, we have an order by the Family Court that I have joint custody of the child with care and control to him. This means that the Court has ordered that the child will be cared for by me and to reside with me. The Family Court also ordered that the child will be returned to me.

Are there any legal measures under the civil or family law in Russia that may afford me similar orders in Russia? Can such orders similar or the same orders be made In Russia under the divorce regime?

I note also that you may be considering a criminal action in Russia against my wife. A criminal action here is not possible as the child is out of country and her act in taking the child away surreptitiously may not attract criminal sanctions here as it is likely that the authorities will see the same as a “domestic issue” to be issued by divorce proceedings or guardianship proceedings.

Will be grateful for your thoughts and comments.

Hi how are you I am looking assistance I was married to a Russian citizen she had a visa for USA and took off back to Russia with another man she refuses to show me photos or advise me of Child's welfare I am deeply concerned for her mental state as I don't believe she is of sound mind where can I start with legal proceeding in getting courts to give me access to my daughter, kind regards.

Good morning Karina, I have found your email address from site regarding child support in Russian Federation.

My story is as follows and I would appreciate any legal advice possible.
I am U.S. citizen and met Russian woman in 2015. I moved to St. Petersburg to spend time and get to know her, I rented an apartment where we lived for almost one year.

I paid everything there, provided home, food, and even gave her money in sizeable amounts just out of the goodness of my heart. I asked her to look for a job as she told me the opportunities for her were better in the city we moved compared to city she lived. She made no such efforts.

Trouble began, she was upset for trivial reasons, left three times when things became stressful for her. She moved back to her mothers house.

Trouble again came in the form of a child. This child is not yet born.
We are not married and her name is not on apartment lease agreement.
Also, she claims this child is mine, however it is only what she has told me, no tests have been conducted. I work in different country than Russian Federation and go back and forth on regular basis four times a year, return when I have vacation to spend with her.

We have irreconcilable differences that cannot be resolved amicably.
I feel moral obligation to help with child support however I am not convinced that this child is really mine, after all, I am not always with her, I am at work 6 weeks and at home 6 weeks.

She has requested that we get married. She also has put my name in birth registration without asking and without my consent.

As I mentioned before, we are not married, and she has poisoned her family against me and I feel my personal safety is in jeopardy. I plan to move out of Russia as soon as possible to avoid any confrontations that could possibly become life threatening and possibly land me in jail.

That would jeopardize my job, my lively-hood and including child support.
What solutions can you present?

I cannot prove this child is really mine as I mentioned, as this child is not born yet.

What should I do?

I feel hopeless as this very stressful situation has spiraled out of control and there is seemingly no solutions.

Thank you for your advice and request alternative solutions legally.

Thank you very much Karina and have a wonderful day.

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.