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Author: Ilona Melnychuk, attorneyThe key points in brief
The statement of claim is the main document of a judicial divorce. Whether the court opens proceedings and how quickly you receive a decision depends on how correctly you draw it up and file it. Below you will find a step-by-step guide: when precisely a claim is needed, to which court to file it, what it must contain, which documents to attach, how much the fee is in 2026 and how to file the application online.
A claim is needed in two main situations: when the spouses have common young or minor children, or when the other spouse does not agree to the divorce or evades arranging it. If there are no children and both are ready to divorce, the marriage is quickly dissolved by the DRATsS authority without a court on a joint application, and we tell about this option in detail in the article on dissolution of a marriage by mutual consent.
It is important not to confuse two judicial paths. If you have children but the spouses have reached agreement, you can file not a claim but a joint application in separate proceedings under Article 109 of the Family Code, attaching an agreement on with whom the children will live and how the other parent will take part in their upbringing. Claim proceedings, that is, a claim proper, are needed when there is no agreement: one wants a divorce and the other is against it, is silent, or cannot be found. Article 110 of the Family Code gives the right to such a claim. Read more about the situation when the decision is one-sided in the material on dissolution of a marriage at the request of one of the spouses.
As a general rule the claim is filed with the local general court, that is, the district, city district or city-district court, at the defendant’s registered place of residence or stay (Article 27 of the Civil Procedure Code). This is the starting point for determining the court.
At the same time, Article 28 of the Civil Procedure Code provides for jurisdiction at the claimant’s choice. In cases on the dissolution of a marriage you have the right to file the application at your own registered place of residence in two cases: if young or minor children live with you, or if you cannot travel to the defendant’s place of residence for health reasons. In addition, the spouses may agree in writing to have the case considered at the place of residence of either of them. In practice most claimants with whom the children remain use this right and apply to a court close to home. If the defendant lives abroad or their place of residence is unknown, special rules apply, and in such cases it is worth consulting an attorney.
The mandatory elements of the application are determined by Article 175 of the Civil Procedure Code, and non-compliance with its requirements is the most common reason why the court leaves a claim without motion. The application consists of several parts.
The introductory part (heading). Here you state the name of the court to which the claim is filed, as well as the parties’ details: the surname, first name and patronymic of the claimant and the defendant, their registered place of residence, the taxpayer registration card number (RNOKPP) or the passport series and number, known phone numbers and email addresses. These contact details are mandatory today, because the court uses them for notifications.
The title of the document. In the middle you write: Statement of claim for the dissolution of a marriage.
The descriptive part. You briefly set out the circumstances: when and where the marriage was registered, whether there are common children and of what age, from when married life actually ceased and why preserving the marriage contradicts your interests. There is no need to reveal intimate details; it is enough to indicate that the family has actually broken up and reconciliation is impossible.
The reasoning part. Here you provide the legal justification with reference to Articles 105, 110 and 112 of the Family Code, which determine the grounds for the termination of the marriage and the conditions for the court’s decision.
The prayer for relief. You formulate clear demands: to dissolve the marriage registered between the parties. If desired, here you can ask the court to restore a pre-marital surname, although more often this question is decided during the state registration of the dissolution.
Attachments, date and signature. At the end you provide the list of attached documents and the claimant’s confirmation that there is no analogous dispute between the same parties, and you put the date and signature. The application should be drawn up in at least two copies plus a copy for the defendant.
The list of attachments is regulated by Article 177 of the Civil Procedure Code: the available evidence, copies for the other party and confirmation of payment of the court fee are attached to the application. For a divorce the basic package looks as follows:
The original of the marriage certificate does not need to be submitted at the filing stage, a copy is sufficient, and the court may examine the original at the hearing. If you submit documents in paper form, copies of the application and attachments are prepared according to the number of defendants and third parties. When filing through the Electronic Court, paper copies for the defendant are not needed; instead the system records the sending of documents to other participants. We have gathered the full list of papers for each divorce path in a separate material on documents for a divorce.
The court fee for a claim for the dissolution of a marriage in 2026 is UAH 1,331.20. This amount is calculated as 0.4 of the subsistence minimum for able-bodied persons, which from 1 January 2026 is UAH 3,328 (3,328 multiplied by 0.4). A divorce claim belongs to demands of a non-property nature, so the rate is fixed and does not depend on the value of the joint property.
For comparison: if the divorce takes place through DRATsS on a joint application, there a state duty of a symbolic amount of about UAH 8.50 is paid rather than a court fee. The difference is explained by the fact that the court performs a much larger volume of work.
The fee of UAH 1,331.20 covers only the demand for the dissolution of the marriage. If you simultaneously make a demand for the recovery of alimony, a separate fee for it is not paid, because claimants in alimony cases are exempt from it. And the division of joint property is a separate property demand with its own fee rate, which depends on the value of the claim, and it is most often considered as separate proceedings. That is, a single decision on the divorce does not automatically divide an apartment, a car or debts.
A claim for the dissolution of a marriage can be filed entirely remotely through the Electronic Court subsystem, and it is also cheaper. To use it, you need to register an official electronic account in the Unified Judicial Information and Communication System on the portal id.court.gov.ua, confirming your identity with a qualified electronic signature (QES) or via Diia.Signature.
The order of actions is as follows: in your account you choose to create a new application, indicate the court according to jurisdiction, fill in the parties’ details, upload the text of the claim and attachments in scanned form, sign the package with an electronic signature and pay the court fee online. The main financial advantage is that when procedural documents are filed in electronic form, a reducing coefficient of 0.8 is applied, that is, the fee is reduced by 20 percent, and instead of UAH 1,331.20 you will pay about UAH 1,064.96. This discount is provided for by part three of Article 4 of the Law of Ukraine on court fees.
It is worth dispelling a common myth: filing a claim online does not mean an instant divorce with one click. The Electronic Court is only a way to send documents and take part in the case remotely, and the decision is still made by a judge under the usual procedure. Read about all the real online possibilities, in particular participation in a hearing in video format and the future service in the Diia app, which as of 2026 is still at the pilot launch stage and not available to everyone, in the review on divorce online.
A claim can be filed in three ways, and each has equal legal force. The first way, to bring the package of documents in person to the registry of the relevant court. The second, to send it by registered mail with a list of contents by post. The third, the most convenient and cheapest, to file the application remotely through the Electronic Court. The choice of method does not affect the consideration of the case, so be guided by your own convenience and whether you have an electronic signature.
After the application arrives, within a few days the judge decides whether to open proceedings, and if the application meets the requirements, schedules a preparatory hearing or the consideration of the case. If there are shortcomings in the application, the court issues a ruling leaving the claim without motion and gives a period for correction, so a neatly drawn-up application saves weeks.
Under Article 111 of the Family Code the court may take measures to reconcile the spouses and grant a period for this, usually up to six months, if it sees a possibility of preserving the family and one of the parties asks for it. If the defendant does not appear without valid reasons and does not submit a response, the court has the right to make a default judgment. When the circumstances have been ascertained, the court makes a decision on the dissolution of the marriage on the basis of Article 112 of the Family Code. What such a decision contains, when it enters into legal force and what to do next, we explain in the article on a court decision on the dissolution of a marriage.
So as not to miss anything, act consistently.
The most common mistake arises with jurisdiction, when the application is filed with the wrong court. Next in frequency come underpayment or incorrect details of the court fee, the absence of copies of the application for the defendant in a paper filing, incomplete party details without RNOKPP or contacts, and also the absence of a signature or an attached marriage certificate. Another typical error is the expectation that a divorce claim will by itself resolve the questions of property and alimony, although these demands need to be made separately and properly justified. So as not to waste time on repeat filings, many entrust the drawing up of the application to an attorney or at least check it against a current template.
As a general rule, from one to three months pass from the filing of the claim to the decision. The term is extended if the court grants time for reconciliation (up to six months) or if there are disputes between the parties about children or property. The fastest cases are those in which both actually do not object to the divorce.
No. A marriage can be dissolved even when the other spouse is against it, since the law does not allow forcibly preserving a family. The defendant’s disagreement can only prolong the process through a period for reconciliation, but does not block the divorce definitively.
Yes. Previously Article 110 of the Family Code restricted such a right, but these restrictions were abolished by Law No. 4073-IX, in force from 19 December 2024. As of 2026 a claim can be filed regardless of pregnancy or the child’s age. We examine the features of such cases in the material on divorce during pregnancy.
When filing through the Electronic Court, the court fee is reduced by 20 percent thanks to the 0.8 coefficient, so instead of UAH 1,331.20 you will pay about UAH 1,064.96. This is an official discount for the electronic form of application.
The claim is filed at the defendant’s last known registered place of residence. If it is not possible to find them, the court notifies the defendant through an announcement on the official web portal of the judiciary and may consider the case without their presence. This is not an obstacle to a divorce.
Not automatically. The dissolution of the marriage and the division of property are different demands. Alimony and the division of property can be claimed separately, and a property dispute is usually considered as separate proceedings with its own calculation of the court fee. Therefore a decision on the divorce does not by itself re-register an apartment or a car.
No. You can ask the court to consider the case without your participation, take part through an attorney under a power of attorney, or join remotely in video mode. Personal presence is not a mandatory condition for making a decision.
Yes. If you are abroad, you can file a claim through the Electronic Court if you have an electronic signature or entrust the conduct of the case to a representative under a power of attorney. Presence in Ukraine is not mandatory for the consideration of a case on the dissolution of a marriage.
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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