International Child Custody Disputes

Practice Areas

Unfortunately, there are entirely too many cases of child abductions, where one of the parents removes his or her child from the country without the consent of the other parent, or a parent takes his or her child to another country with the consent of the other parent, but fails to return.

At Ukrainian Family Law, we specialize in international child custody disputes involving complex legal issues of Ukrainian and international law.  If an abducted child ends up in Ukraine, we usually work with reliable investigation agencies in order to identify the precise physical location of the child and effectuate a prior court order.

In this regard, from a legal perspective, two main international laws that have been established to resolve child custody issues include The Hague Convention and the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act (UCCJA). The Hague Convention is an international treaty among more than 100 countries, and it contains detailed process whereby a child can be returned to their home country if wrongfully removed to another country.  Under the UCCJA, custody decisions made under the actual jurisdictional power of foreign courts will be honored in Ukrainian courts.

In any family law matter involving different counties, custody disputes can become complicated, requiring the services of a law firm that is familiar and experienced with applicable international laws.  Our Ukrainian Family Law attorneys are committed to helping you reach a favorable result that protects your parental rights while serving your child’s best interests.  We often act as Ukrainian legal experts in international court setting.

Consultation
Olena Rudenko Esq.
Kseniya Sakharova Esq.
Anna Lelyuk Esq.

Legal Analysis

Family law

International Child Abduction Laws in Ukraine

International child abductions happen with frightening regularity, and these traumatic events typically involve one of the parents. The reasons for such drastic actions are different: sometimes a Ukrainian-born mother cannot adapt to her new life abroad and returns to the safety of her native Ukraine, taking along her child without the father’s consent. Or a divorce has gone terribly wrong, and the mother takes the child back to Ukraine despite a court order that allows the father visitation rights.

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Family law

Annulments

The effects of a divorce can be long lasting and far-reaching. This is generally not the case with an annulment. An annulment does not include dividing up property and paying alimony because the marriage is treated as having never existed. From a legal perspective, if certain conditions can be proved in a court, then annulment becomes simply a procedure for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the inception, as if it never happened in the first place.

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Family law

Child Custody and Visitation

It seems like only yesterday a child’s parents loved each other and lived together quite happily. Today they find themselves bitterly disappointed in their relationship and want to terminate their marriage. Cold, hard statistics show that Ukraine, unfortunately, is now passing through an avalanche of divorces, which arguably have the greatest impact on innocent children.

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Family law

Child Support

Child support is based on the policy that parents are obligated to pay for the support of children, even when the children are not living with both biological parents. One parent will typically be awarded legal custody, with visitation rights awarded to the non-custodial parent, who remains obligated to pay a proportion of the costs involved in raising the children. In Ukraine, parents are obligated to support their children until they will reach the age of 18 or, in certain cases, even after attaining this age (Art. 180 of the Code).

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Family law

Child Kidnapping

Child kidnapping is a crime that happens with frightening regularity. And it often involves the parents. Sometimes a Ukrainian-born mother cannot adapt to her new life abroad and returns to the safety of her native Ukraine, taking along her child without the father’s consent. Or a divorce has gone wrong, and the mother takes the child back to Ukraine despite a court order that allows the father visitation rights. In any case, domestic child kidnapping is a fairly common event that carries criminal consequences for the offending parent.

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Family law

Establishing Paternity

“Paternity acknowledgement” is a voluntary process when an unwed father becomes legally recognized as the biological father for child support purposes. This acknowledgement does not establish a legal, court-recognized paternity, unless it is then taken to the Rayon level. Once the Rayon court recognizes the paternity, the father then has legal, enforceable visitation rights, and, of course, the financial support responsibilities as well.

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Family law

Divorce

Whether you are legally separating or filing for divorce, it is extremely important that you don’t allow your emotions to get the best of you, especially if child custody or property separation are a part of your problem. First and foremost, you should consult a family law specialist.

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Family law

Pre-nuptial Agreements

It seems wrong to contemplate the ugliness of divorce, and often devastating consequences, during the honeymoon season. For that reason, many otherwise intelligent and rational couples ignore the risk of their split-up sometime in the future. Indeed, there are always significant, long-lasting consequences resulting from termination of marriage, including separation of joint property, custody and visitation rights, payments of alimony and child support, just to name a few.

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Family law

Surrogacy in Ukraine

With each year, surrogacy is increasingly more commonly used by couples to resolve problems arising from reproductive dysfunctions of different types, which lead to impossibility to conceive and give birth to a child in a natural way. It is not surprising that in today’s day and age, progressive parents turn to science to help them build a family. Fortunately, Ukraine is a very liberal country in this regard. Below we analyze the current situation with surrogacy in Ukraine from both practical and legal viewpoints.

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Family law

Adoption

The international adoption process in Ukraine is quite a bit different from that of other countries. First, Ukrainian law does not allow pre-identification of children for international adoption. In other words, unlike other countries, you will not receive a child referral before traveling. Instead, you will be invited to travel to Ukraine after your dossier and paperwork have been received and processed. Once in Ukraine, you will be shown several children to choose which child to adopt.

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Family law

Common-Law Marriages

What about a couple who lives together as husband and wife, but does not have the marriage registration? What kind of property rights and obligations do they have without the marriage certificate?

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