Articles 106-107 of the Family Code of Ukraine allow termination of a marriage by the civil registration office upon an application filed by the spouses who do not have children or one of the spouses (i.e., this is an out-of-court procedure for termination of marriage).
Article 57 of the Family Code of Ukraine defines a list of types of property that are not considered joint property of spouses, for example: (i) any property acquired by either spouse before getting married; (ii) any property acquired under a gift agreement or as heritage during the marriage; (iii) any property acquired during marriage with one spouse’s own money; (iv) personal items such as jewelry, even if acquired with money owned jointly by the spouses, etc.
Articles 60-61 state that any property acquired during marriage shall be jointly owned by the spouses regardless of whether either spouse did not make their own income for a valid reason (studies, household matters, children care, sickness, etc.).
These articles determine the legal consequences related to joint property of the spouses after the dissolution of the marriage. Dissolution of marriage shall not terminate the joint ownership of any property acquired in marriage, meaning that co-owners shall manage any property that remains in their joint ownership upon divorce only on the basis of their mutual agreement.
Article 74 of the Family Code of Ukraine establishes rules governing property division in “civil marriages,” meaning that a woman and a man live together as a family but are not legally married to each other or to anyone else. Any property acquired by a couple in a civil marriage while living together is their joint property that will be shared or divided equally after the marriage ends, unless otherwise defined in a written agreement. Thus, in theory, the legal status of the property acquired by persons in a civil marriage is the same as the legal status of the property of the spouses.
Spouses who have children may file to a competent court a divorce application supported by a written agreement detailing with whom the children will live following the divorce, to what extent the other parent will support the children, and the other parent's right to care for the children. The competent court shall award a divorce one month following the submission of the divorce application, if it is established that the divorce application is in line with the genuine intent of the wife and husband.
Article 24 of the Family Code of Ukraine specifies that marriage requires the consent of the woman and the man, free from coercion. “Voluntary marriage” is a rather broad concept, which includes the right to freely decide to enter and maintain marriage, as well as to dissolve a marriage and terminate marital relations. At the same time, the Family Code requires that a court declare a marriage null and void if it was registered without the free consent of either party.
Articles 49, 50 of the Family Code of Ukraine refer the right to maternity and the right to parentage to the personal non-property rights of spouses. The term “maternity” means women’s legally guaranteed right to reproductive opportunity on (i.e., to give birth to children, raise them). The core of this personal non-property right is the wife's authority to decide whether or not to have a child. In addition, these articles establish that a woman's reluctance to have a child or her inability to conceive a child can be grounds for the dissolution of marriage.
The applicant complained to the ECtHR that (i) he was ill-treated by police officers and (ii) the domestic authorities had failed to effectively investigate his allegations in violation of Article 3 of the ECHR. The applicant had been arrested by police officers of the drug crimes unit and taken to a police station. According to the applicant, he was mistreated in order to make him confess. In particular, he alleged that he was threatened with rape, kicked and hit on the head and torso, threatened with weapons, and dropped face down on the floor while handcuffed.
The plaintiff was in an official marriage with her husband. During this time, the spouses purchased a house, registering it under the husband’s name. After a quarrel, the woman moved out, taking their child with her. Later, when the plaintiff returned to the house, she was unable to access it. Furthermore, during her absence, the husband had a woman she did not know move in with him.
