★★★★★ 5.0 ON GOOGLE · CLIENT REVIEWS | AVAILABLE 24/7
Author: Ilona Melnychuk, attorneyThe key points
Millions of Ukrainians now live abroad, and personal decisions do not become any simpler because of it. The reassuring part is that you do not have to buy a ticket home to officially dissolve a marriage. In this article we go step by step through which remote tools actually work as of 2026, when a request to the civil registry (DRATS) is enough and when the case will be handled by a court, and how to arrange everything without leaving your country of residence.
Yes, dissolving a marriage from abroad is entirely realistic, and the law does not require both spouses to be physically present in the same office. Ukrainian law provides two routes: the administrative one, through the department of state registration of civil status acts (DRATS for short), and the judicial one. The choice between them depends not on which country you find yourself in, but on two circumstances: whether you have shared minor children and whether both spouses consent to the divorce. Citizenship also matters: Ukrainian courts have jurisdiction to hear a divorce case if at least one of the spouses is a citizen of Ukraine, even when both actually live outside the country. The fact that you live abroad does not mean you will have to divorce under foreign law: a Ukrainian marriage is dissolved under Ukrainian rules by applying to Ukrainian authorities. If your husband or wife is a foreign national, questions of jurisdiction, notifying the respondent and subsequent recognition of the decision abroad come into play, and these specifics are covered in a separate article on divorce from a foreign national.
A divorce is processed through the civil registry (DRATS) when the spouses have no shared minor children and both agree to part ways (Article 106 of the Family Code). This is the fastest and cheapest route. The distance problem is solved as follows: the spouse who is abroad signs a joint application for divorce and certifies the authenticity of the signature at a Ukrainian consular office or with a local notary. The law expressly allows the other spouse to submit the notarized (or equivalent) application on behalf of the person who cannot file it in person for a valid reason. The documents are then submitted to the DRATS in Ukraine: in person by the other spouse, by mail, or through a representative under a power of attorney. The divorce is registered after one month has passed from the day the application was filed, provided it has not been withdrawn. The completed certificate is issued at the DRATS office, and your representative can collect it under a power of attorney. If the marriage certificate is lost, it is worth ordering a duplicate in advance, including through the same representative. Read more about this amicable option in the article on divorce by mutual consent.
If the divorce goes through a court, you can file the claim from abroad online in the Electronic Court system without sending any papers by mail. To do this you need to register an electronic office on the official web portal of the judiciary (the UJITS subsystem) and have a qualified electronic signature (QES). A QES can be generated via Diia.Signature if you have the activated Diia app and a biometric document, obtained from an accredited provider of electronic trust services, or issued through the signatures of some Ukrainian banks. Through the office you draw up and sign the statement of claim, attach scanned copies of the marriage certificate and other documents, and pay the court fee online. The court sends summonses and rulings to this same electronic office, so you can follow the case from anywhere in the world. If you do not have your own QES and it is inconvenient to obtain one, the entire process can be fully entrusted to an attorney under a power of attorney, and then the electronic signature will only be needed for the power of attorney itself. How to draft the claim correctly, what to attach to it and how to calculate the fee, we set out in detail in the guide on how to file a statement of claim for divorce.
Entrusting the divorce to an attorney under a power of attorney is probably the most convenient option for those abroad, because it takes almost all of the technical work off your shoulders. The Supreme Court has confirmed that a statement of claim for divorce may be signed and filed by a representative, so the attorney acts on your behalf on the basis of a power of attorney. He drafts and files the claim, pays the court fee, receives summonses, takes part in hearings, reviews the case file, and obtains the court decision. You will not have to get to grips with the intricacies of the process or adjust to the time-zone difference in order to log in to the electronic office. For a divorce through the civil registry (DRATS), a representative can likewise submit the certified application and collect the certificate. The main condition is to draw up the power of attorney abroad correctly, and that is covered next.
There are two ways to execute a power of attorney abroad: at a consular office of Ukraine or with a local foreign notary, and there is a practical difference between them. A power of attorney certified by a Ukrainian consul is equated to a notarial one, is entered into the Unified Register of Powers of Attorney, and takes effect in Ukraine immediately, without additional legalization or translation, so this is the simplest option. If you turn to a local notary, the document will be drawn up in a foreign language and will have to be legalized: for states party to the 1961 Hague Convention this means an apostille, and for the rest, consular legalization. After that the power of attorney is translated into Ukrainian, and the translator’s signature is certified by a notary. Ukraine has legal-assistance treaties with a number of countries that remove the need for an apostille, so it is worth checking the regime of your particular state in advance. A practical tip: if there is a Ukrainian consulate nearby, it is usually easier and cheaper to execute the power of attorney there.
No, you usually do not need to come to Ukraine for the hearing. First, if your interests are handled by an attorney under a power of attorney, he represents you in court on his own, and your presence is not required at all. Second, the court may allow a participant to take part in a hearing remotely, by videoconference from outside the courthouse, through an appropriate videoconferencing system (for example, EASYCON). To do this you file a motion, and to connect you only need a device with a camera, a stable internet connection and, as a rule, an electronic signature for identification. Keep the time-zone difference in mind: hearings are scheduled in Kyiv time, so it is better to plan your connection in advance. Third, if the respondent has been duly notified of the case but does not appear and does not respond, the court has the right to render a default judgment. That is, the divorce will take place even when the other party abroad tries to ignore it.
As a general rule, a claim for divorce is filed with the court at the respondent’s registered place of residence or stay in Ukraine. When the respondent lives abroad or their place of residence is unknown, the claim may be filed at their last known place of residence in Ukraine or at the location of their property. There are also exceptions in the claimant’s favor: if young or minor children live with you, or you cannot travel to the respondent’s place of residence for health reasons or other valid reasons, the case may be heard at your place of residence. And if both spouses agree, they can arrange to file a joint application with the court at the place of residence of either of them. Since jurisdiction with a foreign element is determined on a case-by-case basis, before filing it is worth checking with a lawyer so as not to be refused the opening of proceedings because of an error in the court’s address.
As of July 2026, you cannot yet fully get divorced through the Diia app while abroad: the service is running in beta-testing (pilot) mode and is not available to everyone. The Ministry of Digital Transformation and the Ministry of Justice opened testing of online divorce in the summer of 2026, and announced the full launch roughly by the end of summer. Only spouses with no shared children under 18, by mutual consent and without a property dispute, with verified documents and tax numbers in the app, will be able to use it. For those abroad there is a significant limitation: according to available information, the completed divorce certificate is issued only within Ukraine. Therefore, for now, for a remote divorce it is more reliable to rely on proven tools: the civil registry (DRATS) with a certified application and the Electronic Court. Read more about the conditions, timelines and launch status in the separate article on divorce through Diia.
The cost of a divorce from abroad consists of state payments and, if needed, the attorney’s fee, and it depends on the chosen route. For registering the dissolution of a marriage through the civil registry (DRATS) you pay a state duty of about UAH 8.50, and the procedure itself takes one month from the day the application is filed. For a claim for divorce in 2026 the court fee is about UAH 1,331: this is 0.4 of the subsistence minimum for able-bodied persons, which as of 1 January 2026 equals UAH 3,328. Added to these amounts are the costs of certifying the power of attorney, the apostille or legalization and translations, as well as the attorney’s fee if you engage one. As for timelines: court proceedings usually take longer than the administrative procedure, because the court may grant the parties time for reconciliation (up to six months) and must duly notify the respondent. When the other party is abroad, notification takes place under the rules of the 1965 Hague Convention or through an announcement on the court web portal, and this noticeably stretches out the process. If your husband or wife is a citizen of an aggressor state, there are separate specifics for notification and consideration that are worth learning about in advance.
The document confirming the divorce depends on which route you took, and it can be obtained even remotely. After a divorce through the civil registry (DRATS), a divorce certificate is issued, and your representative can collect it under a power of attorney. If the marriage was dissolved by a court, separate registration with the DRATS is not needed: the confirmation is the court decision itself once it has entered into legal force, and if desired you can additionally obtain a certificate or an extract from the register. We write about the difference between these documents in the article on the divorce certificate. A separate important detail for life abroad: for a Ukrainian divorce document to have force in another country (for example, for a new marriage or updating your status), it most often needs to be apostilled. How and where to do this is explained in detail in the guide on apostilling a court divorce decision.
Yes, but you will need an identity document. For remote actions abroad, a foreign-travel passport is usually used, and for applications to Ukrainian authorities your taxpayer registration number and the documents you have will do. The specific list depends on the divorce route, so it is best to agree it with an attorney in advance.
No, consent is not mandatory if it is the judicial route. One spouse’s unwillingness to divorce does not prevent the court from dissolving the marriage, because the law protects everyone’s right to end marital relations. Consent is needed only for a quick divorce through the civil registry (DRATS). If the other party objects or is unavailable, the case is decided by a court, including in absentia.
It depends on the method of divorce. In a divorce through the civil registry (DRATS), the marriage ends on the day of state registration of the dissolution. In a divorce through a court, the marriage ends on the day the court decision enters into legal force, that is, after the period for appeal has expired, if the decision was not appealed. Until that moment you legally remain married, even if you no longer actually live together.
Yes, but these are separate claims that are not always worth combining with the divorce. Division of property, determining the children’s place of residence and recovery of alimony can be brought as separate claims, and often this is even faster, so as not to drag out the divorce itself. If you have disputes over property or children, consult an attorney on how to structure the sequence of steps.
Through the civil registry (DRATS) the procedure takes one month from the day the application is filed. Court proceedings take longer and depend on the court’s workload, a possible reconciliation period and the time needed to notify the party abroad. By mutual consent and without disputes, a court divorce usually goes faster than when there are objections.
In most cases yes, but additional formalities are often required. For a Ukrainian court decision or certificate to be recognized in another country, the document is usually apostilled or legalized and translated into the language of the relevant state. The requirements vary from country to country, so it is worth checking the specific procedure with the competent authority at your place of residence.
In that case the divorce is arranged through a court. If the respondent’s place of residence is unknown, they are notified through an announcement on the official court web portal, and after proper notification the court may consider the case without their participation and render a default judgment. This is a common situation, and it is not an obstacle to divorce.
Ilona MelnychukAttorney, Lexon law firmSpecializes in family, civil and commercial cases. Over 15 years of practice: representing clients’ interests in courts and negotiations.Author: Ilona Melnychuk, attorney In Brief You can dissolve a marriage through the registry office (DRATS, the body for the state registration of civil status
The “Lexon” attorney secured the complete cancellation of a resolution imposing a fine under part 2 of Article 122 of the Code of Ukraine on
It happens more often than it seems: one day you suddenly find out about the existence of a court decision issued in a case you
Grand changes await the Ukrainian business environment. As of August 28, 2025, the Commercial Code of Ukraine loses its force. This is not just a
Buying real estate is always a serious step that requires not only significant financial investment, but also thorough legal verification. To avoid unpleasant surprises, it
Buying real estate has always been a responsible step, and in the conditions of 2025, when economic instability and wartime risks intensify fraudulent schemes, it
