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Author: Ilona Melnychuk, attorneyKey points
A marriage to a citizen of another country adds several legal layers to an ordinary divorce: you have to determine which country’s court has jurisdiction, which state’s law applies, how to officially notify the respondent abroad, and how to have the judgment recognized both in Ukraine and beyond. In this article we go through these questions step by step, relying on the legislation in force as of 2026. The material will be useful whether you live in Ukraine or your partner remains abroad.
Yes, a Ukrainian citizen has the right to dissolve a marriage with a foreigner in a Ukrainian court, and the other spouse’s citizenship is no obstacle to this. Ukrainian law does not prohibit divorce involving a foreign element. The ground is the same for everyone: the court grants the dissolution if it finds that the spouses’ further life together and the preservation of the marriage would run counter to the interests of one of them or of their children (art. 112 of the Family Code). Each spouse has the right to file a claim (art. 110 of the Family Code), while the jurisdiction of Ukrainian courts in cases with a foreign element is established by the Law on Private International Law: the grounds include the claimant residing in Ukraine and other connections of the case with our state. In other words, if you live in Ukraine, a registered marriage can quite realistically be dissolved at home, without going abroad. The difficulties usually lie not in the right to divorce itself, but in the procedure: notifying the respondent, translations, and time frames. If it is you who ended up abroad rather than your partner, remote options work for you, which we described in a separate step-by-step guide.
As a general rule, a claim for dissolution of marriage is filed with the court at the respondent’s registered place of residence, but there are important exceptions to this rule in the claimant’s favor. If the claimant has young or minor children in their care, or if they cannot travel to the respondent’s place of residence for health reasons or other valid grounds, the claim may be filed at the claimant’s own place of residence (art. 28 of the Civil Procedure Code). By agreement of the spouses, the case is heard at the place of residence of either of them. This is convenient when the foreigner lives outside Ukraine, since there is no need to travel to their country. A separate situation arises when both spouses live abroad. In that case, and also in cases of divorce between a Ukrainian citizen and a foreigner or a stateless person who live outside Ukraine, the territorial jurisdiction is determined, at the claimant’s request, by a ruling of a judge of the Supreme Court (art. 29 of the Civil Procedure Code). In practice this means an additional preliminary step: first obtaining a ruling that designates the court, and only then filing the claim. In its 2025 case law the Supreme Court stressed that the concept of valid reasons should be interpreted broadly so as not to deprive a person of access to justice.
For the dissolution of a marriage Ukrainian courts apply the law determined under articles 60 and 63 of the Law on Private International Law, while the procedure itself is always conducted under Ukrainian procedural law. Article 63 refers to the rules on the legal consequences of marriage, and article 60 sets out the sequence: the spouses’ common personal law applies, that is, the law of their common citizenship. If there is no common citizenship, the law of the state in which the spouses have their common place of residence applies, and in the absence of one, the law of the state with which both are most closely connected in another way. In practice, when the spouses lived in Ukraine or their main connections are concentrated here, the court applies precisely Ukrainian substantive law. Procedural matters, such as how to file a claim, how to summon the parties, how to examine evidence, are always governed by the law of Ukraine as the state of the court. So there is no need to fear exotic wording: in a typical divorce case the court is guided by the Family Code of Ukraine, and the foreign element affects the notification procedure and document handling rather than anything else.
Yes, divorce through the civil registry office (DRATSS) with a foreigner is possible, but only where two conditions are met at once: the spouses have no shared minor children and both agree to dissolve the marriage (art. 106 of the Family Code). The partner’s citizenship in itself does not deprive you of this quick and inexpensive route, and the state fee for registering the dissolution is about UAH 8.50. The problem here is purely organizational: both must express their will. If the foreigner is abroad and cannot come, they file a separate notarized application; a signature made abroad is certified by a notary or a consul, and the document itself is accompanied by a translation into Ukrainian. If, however, there is at least one shared child under 18 or there is no agreement, the registry office will refuse, and the matter will have to be resolved through the court. We explain the administrative route, its conditions and time frames in more detail in a separate article on divorce through the civil registry office (DRATSS).
A respondent who lives outside Ukraine is officially notified of the proceedings through a letter of request for service of documents under the 1965 Hague Convention. Ukraine is a party to the Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters. The court draws up the request, which is transmitted through the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine to the central authority of the foreign state, and that authority arranges service on the addressee under local rules. The key requirement concerns translation: the statement of claim and its annexes are, as a rule, translated into the official language of the state where the respondent lives, otherwise service may not be carried out. It is precisely because of this international exchange of documents that the proceedings last considerably longer than an ordinary divorce, since waiting for a reply from a foreign authority often stretches to months. With states with which Ukraine has bilateral treaties on legal assistance, requests are sent in the manner provided for by such treaties. A special case is notifying a respondent in an aggressor state, where its own particularities apply; we examine that situation in the material on divorce from a citizen of the russian federation.
If the respondent’s place of residence abroad could not be established, they are summoned through an announcement on the official web portal of the judiciary, and from the day of such publication they are deemed to have been duly notified. This is a safeguard against the situation where a partner deliberately hides or has dropped out of sight. Before this, the court takes reasonable steps to ascertain the address, including through available contacts and inquiries. If the respondent has been duly notified but does not appear and does not submit a response, the court has the right to hold a default hearing and issue a default judgment. It is important to understand that due notification does not mean the addressee must actually receive the documents, so a foreigner’s silence or evasion does not block the divorce forever, although it does prolong it. At the same time, the respondent may later appeal the default judgment or ask for it to be reviewed if they prove valid reasons for their non-appearance, so the court records all procedural steps especially carefully.
In addition to the standard divorce package, a case involving a foreigner adds notarized translations and, where necessary, an apostille or legalization of foreign documents. The basic set is as follows: the statement of claim, a copy of the marriage certificate, copies of passports and of documents concerning children if any, and a receipt for payment of the court fee. The foreigner’s passport and their other documents drawn up in a foreign language are accompanied by a translation into Ukrainian whose accuracy is certified by a notary. If a document was issued abroad and must be officially accepted in Ukraine, for example a foreign marriage certificate, it usually requires an apostille or consular legalization, except where an international treaty removes this requirement. We have collected the exact lists of documents for each divorce route in a separate detailed article. Tip: prepare the translations in advance, because it is precisely they that most often delay filing.
The court fee for a claim to dissolve a marriage in 2026 is about UAH 1,331, and a case with a foreign element usually lasts longer because of the international correspondence. The fee rate equals 0.4 of the subsistence minimum for able-bodied persons; since from 1 January 2026 this figure is UAH 3,328, the fee amounts to approximately UAH 1,331.20. On a joint application by spouses who have children and have concluded an agreement about them (art. 109 of the Family Code), the rate is half as much, about UAH 665.60. When a claim is filed electronically through the Electronic Court system, a reducing coefficient of 0.8 applies, that is, you pay about 80 percent of the amount. Registering a divorce at the civil registry office (DRATSS) costs a symbolic UAH 8.50 in state duty. As for time frames, they depend on how quickly the foreign authority serves the documents: whereas an ordinary divorce in Ukraine can take about two months, international service adds further months of waiting to this. We have shown how to draw up a claim and file it in practice, including online, in a step-by-step guide to the statement of claim.
For a Ukrainian divorce judgment to have effect abroad, it is usually apostilled or legalized and translated into the language of the relevant state. For countries party to the 1961 Hague Convention an apostille is sufficient: on a court judgment it is affixed by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, after which the document is translated and, where necessary, the translation is certified in the receiving country. For states that have not acceded to this convention, consular legalization applies, and with countries that have a treaty on legal assistance with Ukraine the documents are often accepted without additional formalities. We have examined the apostille procedure for divorce documents, the authorities involved and the time frames in a separate step-by-step guide. A practical tip: check in advance with the foreign state’s authority, registry or consulate which document exactly they need: the court judgment, the divorce certificate or an extract from the civil registry (DRATSS), because different countries’ requirements vary.
A foreign divorce judgment is in many cases recognized in Ukraine without a separate court procedure, if it does not require enforcement and a treaty on legal assistance is in force between the states. Where there is no such treaty or an authority requires confirmation, the foreign judgment is recognized through a Ukrainian court; for this the document is legalized with an apostille or consular legalization and translated into Ukrainian with notarial certification. It is important to remember: until the divorce is properly formalized and reflected in the registers, for Ukraine you may be considered to be married, even if in fact the relationship ended long ago. So the formalities should not be ignored. Questions of dividing joint property and the children’s place of residence are decided separately from the dissolution of the marriage itself, and where there is a foreign element, such as property or children in different countries, these questions have their own nuances that are best discussed with a lawyer in advance.
No, the other spouse’s consent is not required for a divorce through the court. If the foreigner objects or is out of contact, the court can still dissolve the marriage, including by default, provided the respondent has been duly notified. Mutual consent is needed only for the quick route through the civil registry office (DRATSS) and only where there are no shared minor children.
Yes. The foreigner’s personal presence is not required: they can take part remotely, act through a representative under a power of attorney, or not appear at all. The main thing is to notify them of the proceedings properly. If a duly notified respondent fails to appear, the court holds a default hearing and may issue a judgment without them.
In most cases yes, but the judgment must be legalized: an apostille must be affixed for Hague Convention countries or consular legalization must be completed, and it must also be translated into the state’s language. The specific requirements depend on the country, so it is worth checking them in advance with the relevant authority or consulate.
Documents are filed with a Ukrainian court in Ukrainian. Materials drawn up in a foreign language are accompanied by a translation certified by a notary. Documents sent to the respondent abroad, on the other hand, are translated into the language of their state so that the foreign authority can serve them properly.
An exact time frame is hard to predict. An ordinary divorce in Ukraine often takes about two months, but international service of documents through the Hague Convention adds months of waiting for a reply from the foreign authority. The longest cases are those where the respondent’s address is unknown or they deliberately evade service.
If both spouses live outside Ukraine, and also in cases of divorce between a Ukrainian citizen and a foreigner who live abroad, jurisdiction is determined, at the claimant’s request, by a ruling of a judge of the Supreme Court (art. 29 of the Civil Procedure Code). First you obtain such a ruling, and then you file the claim with the court it designates.
No. The former restrictions on dissolving a marriage during the wife’s pregnancy and for a year after the birth of a child were abolished by Law No. 4073-IX, in force since 19 December 2024. As of 2026 there is no such prohibition, and this rule applies regardless of the spouses’ citizenship.
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
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