Court decision on divorce: how to get it 2021

If there are grounds provided for in Article 21 of the Family Code, the termination of marriage is carried out through the courts. The court's decision on divorce is the final document of the divorce case.

After this judicial act comes into force, the marriage according to Russian legislation is officially recognized as completed. All that remains for the former spouses is to come with an extract from the decision to the registry office and receive a divorce certificate by notification.

Basic provisions of a court decision on divorce

A court decision is a document confirming the administration of justice in a specific case, which began with the transfer of a statement of claim to the court office. This court act has the properties indicated in the table below.

Characteristics of a judicial verdict	A comment
Enforceability	This property means that the court translates abstract legal norms into material relations. In other words, courts are the instrument that brings the law to life and allows it to take effect in the real world.
Applies to only one specific case	The decision cannot regulate the entire admissible set of homogeneous legal situations, but resolves only 1 case.
Mandatory	After a judicial verdict comes into force, it becomes binding on all legal entities who must implement it unquestioningly.
irrefutability	After the expiration of the time periods established by law for appeal, it becomes impossible to change the decision on divorce.

An interested Russian citizen can receive a court order dissolving a marriage in 2 options:

only in writing;
in electronic format. A sample document is sent over the Internet or recorded on a file storage device, such as a flash drive. In addition, an additional copy printed on paper is required.

Note! If a Russian citizen is in a marriage with a foreigner and intends to divorce him in Russia, then their divorce will be no different from the end of a marriage between two Russian citizens.

The court decision in its structure consists of 4 parts. Detailed information about them is indicated in the table.

Parts of the solution	Content
Introductory	name of the court; Full name of the judge or judges, if the case was heard collectively; Full name of the meeting secretary; information about the parties to the process (defendant, plaintiff) and third parties involved in the divorce proceedings; information about representatives; the place where the decision was announced and the day on which this action took place; claims, for example, to dissolve a marriage, collect alimony if the couple has a young child, or divide property acquired during the marriage.
Descriptive	Here are instructions for: a list of claims stated by the plaintiff; a list of objections received from the defendant; other explanations from third parties who took part in the proceedings.
Motivational	Here the court explains the reasons that prompted it to make a certain decision, namely: evidence confirming the position of the judicial authority; a list of circumstances established on the basis of evidence; reasons that explain the rejection of some evidence provided by the parties; legislative acts referred to by the judge. If the defendant fully agrees with the claims, then the motivation section is written in an abbreviated form. It is only indicated that the plaintiff’s statement is unconditionally accepted by the defendant, and the court agrees with this. Read also: How to file a complaint with the guardianship authorities against neighbors, mother, father, guardian?
Resolution	This solution block states: whether the requirements are fully or partially accepted; whether the claims were denied; on what terms were the costs for legal services distributed between the parties to the process; how can you appeal a judicial act in case of disagreement with it in order to cancel or change the decision.

This example can serve as a clear illustration of a real court decision made in a divorce case. As a rule, in order to get acquainted with the decision in a divorce case, spouses do not need to go to court in person. This can be done online on the website of the judicial authority.

Where can I get a short version of the court's decision?

An extract of the resolution includes brief excerpts from the decision of the authority. The paper is certified by an authorized person in the prescribed manner. A short version may be provided without including entire sections provided for by the act. At the same time, the content of the introductory and operative sections is, as a rule, mandatory. They are important for the implementation of legally significant actions by the registry office.

An extract is drawn up only when the main document comes into force. In accordance with Art. 25 of the RF IC, the responsibilities of the authority include sending paper to the registry office to complete the divorce process and make a corresponding entry in the registration book.

The receipt of an extract from the court decision by the structure authorized to issue a certificate of separation of relations is not the basis for completing the procedure. According to Art. 35 of Federal Law No. 143-FZ, spouses must contact the authority and write an application for the issuance of paper. In addition, partners will need a passport and a decision received from the authority.

It is worth noting that when one of the parties applies to the registry office, the second is released from the obligation to submit a court extract. The certificate is issued without it.

Time limit for appealing the decision by the dissenting party

To obtain a certificate of divorce by court decision, you must first wait until the verdict is given legal force. But according to the conditions specified in the law, the decision cannot be applied immediately, with the exception of certain cases, for example, when claiming alimony benefits.

Thanks to this circumstance, the losing party can avoid the deterioration of its position resulting from a mistake by the judge or the absence of important evidence. The time limits within which complaints can be filed vary depending on the type of court that issued the decision.

In the case of absentee resolution of a dispute, appointed due to the absence of the defendant, or in connection with the request of the plaintiff to make a decision without his personal presence at the meeting, the law establishes other rules for appeal. First of all, the defendant has the right to send to the court or bring in person an application with a request to cancel a previously adopted judicial act. This action is permissible within 1 week from the date of receipt of a copy of the decision.

Important! An absentee resolution of the dispute is possible only if the defendant was notified properly: he was provided with information about the place and time of the court hearing, that is, a summons was sent.

If the court does not agree with the arguments set out in the application, the defendant may exercise the right to appeal. This right arises from the end of the time period allocated for the cancellation of the judicial act (that is, 1 week), and lasts exactly 1 month.

Type of court	Time period for appeal
World judge	10 days. This time is counted from the day the defendant receives the judge's order in person or via mail. 1 month, if the case was considered according to the rules of legal proceedings.
District Court	1 month. This time is counted from the day when the court act is finalized.

If the appeal is lost, the law allows an appeal of the divorce decision through cassation. The complaint can be filed within 6 months from the date on which the appellate court heard the final decision regarding the divorce proceedings.

For an appeal or cassation, the interested party must pay a state fee, the amount of which is 150 rubles.

Dissolution of a marriage by a justice of the peace

As part of the trial, not only the termination of a marriage relationship can be considered, but also the issue of the place of residence and financial support for the couple’s common children, the division of property, the payment of alimony to a spouse who has lost the ability to work, and so on can be resolved.

But the Resolution of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation clearly indicates the circumstances in the presence of which an application to the court cannot be accepted. We are talking about couples in which the husband of a pregnant woman or the father of a baby who is not yet one year old wants freedom. If the applicant does not provide the court with his wife’s consent to terminate the marriage, certified by a notary, then he will definitely receive a refusal to consider the case in accordance with the Decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.

If a married couple does not intend to argue about the future fate of their offspring and does not plan to divide property, the estimated value of which is more than 50,000 rubles, then they can go to the magistrate’s court. The statement of claim can be written according to a sample downloaded from open sources, or it can be drawn up in any form, provided that it looks like a document.

In the absence of conflicts between the spouses, the case will be completed after the first meeting with the execution of a document such as a court decision on divorce, which the spouses will be able to receive after the decision comes into legal force. Usually, drawing up the paper takes no more than three days, but the divorce decree comes into force only a month after the date of its execution.

Extract from the court decision on divorce

Employees of the divorce registry office will not need the entire decision to issue a certificate of termination of marriage and make a registration entry in a special book. For the convenience of their work, the legislator provided for the preparation of an extract.

Place of issue of the document

It can be issued only in the court that was involved in the proceedings on the termination of the marriage. The fact is that in other courts there is no information about the required legal process, so they cannot provide the applicant with such a service.

The extract can be issued in the court office or in the archive if the decision in the divorce case has already been submitted for execution.

Basic data

The extract includes information such as:

The name of the court, surname and initials of the judge involved in resolving the matrimonial dispute.
Case number and date of the last court hearing.
The wording is from the operative part, where the judge decides to dissolve the marriage and indicates the registration number from the registry office book.
The day on which the act received legal force.
The seal of the judicial authority with the coat of arms and the autograph of the judge, acting as evidence of the validity of the document, since it is drawn up on ordinary paper that is not protected from forgery.

The extract form looks like this:

Validity period and cost of receipt

It is valid indefinitely. At any time, the ex-spouse can receive an extract and go to an appointment at the registry office to obtain a certificate of divorce by court decision, as well as to affix a stamp in the “Marital status” section of the passport about the dissolution of the marriage.

As for payment, the initial production of this document will not require money. However, if the extract is lost or damaged, reprinting it will cost the applicant 40 rubles.

Helpful information! Not only former participants in the marriage, but also their representatives can come to the court office to obtain the document, provided they present a notarized judicial power of attorney.

Possibility of receiving by mail

The court can send the extract by post, but this procedure has 2 nuances:

1. if the spouse was present in the courtroom during the hearing of the case, then after the decision is announced, he (she) must petition the judge and ask to send a copy of the extract via mail;

2. if the spouse did not come to the process, then the extract will be sent to him automatically within 1 working week after writing the decision in completed form.

There are no legal differences between a document received in person and a document sent by mail. Therefore, you can freely use the extract obtained in any legal way for your own purposes.

Decision making process

A court decision is the basis for issuing a certificate at the registry office. It also speaks of the completion of activities carried out in the authority on a petition for dissolution of the union ( Article 194 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation ). After receiving the act, partners must personally visit the registry office. The structure will not issue a document until the decision of the authority comes into force ( Article 31 of Federal Law No. 143-FZ ). The designated date will simultaneously be the moment of termination of the union of the spouses.

A divorce certificate is necessary for partners to register repeated relationships and receive a number of government services, where the paper is attached to the application.

Arbitrage practice

The case was heard by the Dmitrov City Court of the Moscow Region in July 2021.

The husband asked the court to recognize the following requirements:

End your marital relationship with your wife.
Divide the common property acquired in the marriage in the following proportion:
Divide the house and plot of land 50% each.
Transfer the car to the defendant and assign an amount of compensation for it in favor of the second party of 125,000 rubles.
Transfer another car to the plaintiff and assign an amount of compensation for it in favor of the second party of 325,000 rubles.

During the meeting, the husband did not renounce his claims and asked to recognize them in full. In turn, the wife admitted the claim and did not file any objections to it.

After carefully listening to the parties and studying the evidence, the judge formulated the following conclusions:

The marriage has actually broken down, the husband does not want to take time for reconciliation, but the wife agrees with him. Therefore, the court does not see the point in continuing the family relationship of the spouses and has no reason to refuse a divorce.
Since the court did not find a marriage agreement or other document reliably confirming the position of each spouse regarding joint property, according to the law it divides the house and land equally.
Since the wife agrees with the husband’s legal claims regarding the cars, the court agrees with the division of the cars according to the conditions proposed by the plaintiff.

When is a case decided in court?

The list of grounds for divorce through the court is given in Article 21 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation and is exhaustive:

The spouses have no common minor children, but one of them does not want to get a divorce.

Very often, people at the stage of divorce have disagreements. The party that considers itself “victim” may flatly refuse to divorce. Regardless of whether it is harm or a desire to save the family, it is impossible to force someone into a marriage relationship. A marriage can be dissolved through the court regardless of the opinion of the second spouse. But unlike a divorce in the registry office, this will require a lot of time, material and moral costs.

The spouses have common minor children.

Under this condition, even if the spouses mutually want to divorce, everyone agrees to everything, a trial cannot be avoided if you only wait until the children come of age, which is a dubious pleasure for most.

During a divorce, spouses not only make property claims against each other, but also often cannot agree on which of them the children will live with and how the separated spouse will communicate with them. Such issues can also be resolved in court.