Ms Maria Vellon, citizen of USA, filed a claim to the magistrate court on the territory of the Russian Federation on dissolution of marriage on the grounds that her husband, Ivan Podgoretsky, lives in Moscow. In the statement of claim she is asking to initiate divorce proceedings and recover alimony from her husband in favor of the child. The case files contain marriage certificate made in Florida (USA) as well as birth certificate of a child also made in Florida. The judge left her claim undecided referring to necessity of legalization of foreign papers submitted to the court. Maria Vellon contacted our lawyer to receive consultation on relevancy of this judicial decision and possibility of lodging a complaint. We came to a conclusion that the court decision was lawful and justifiable. In accordance with the requirements of the civil procedural legislation, documents issued by authorized bodies of the foreign state may be submitted as case files only if they are duly legalized (in this case – under condition of placing Apostille on the document) and have notarized translation into Russian. We helped her to legalize the above document, and as a result, her statement of claim was accepted by the court for hearing, and then the case was decided on the merits.