I live in Uzbekistan and my husband resides in Germany. We have got a joint daughter with him who is 5 years old at the present moment. I seized the court with the claim on recovery of the alimony payments in the city Tashkent but the judge recommended me to consult with a lawyer and considered that a legal decision in Uzbekistan will take me nowhere. Please could you explain to me if it is true and what I shall do?
Coming from my experience and multi-year practice on cases connected with participation of foreign citizens and compatriots residing abroad I suppose that the judge is right: a treaty of legal assistance on civil matters and domestic proceeding is absent between Uzbekistan and Germany. It means that any decision or determination of the court of Uzbekistan is to get through a degree of jurisdiction of a foreign state. No decision will be received to performance on non-disclosure. Thus, if a result of proceedings on your case is a decision or determination on recovery of the alimony payments you will be really able to charge the alimony only after rendition of a corresponding legal decision. What is more, a decision of the German court on recognition and performance of the Uzbek court is to satisfy the canons of the international and national (German) right.
In case of adjudication by the Uzbek court you will be actually enforced to make a fresh start filing an application to the German court on recognition and performance of a decision of the foreign judgment. Actually, it is a double work.
At the same time, you have a possibility to recover the alimony payments in Germany appealing to the German court with a corresponding claim.