As a general rule, property acquired by spouses during their marriage is jointly owned by them. If a marriage breaks down, what happens to the property after the divorce is one of the key questions facing husband and wife. A client approached us for legal assistance in resolving a dispute with his wife. While working on the client’s objectives, we gathered information on all the property subject to division and arranged for it to be valued, including real estate, securities, vehicles, high-value interior items and stakes in several companies. When developing our strategy, we pointed out to the client a number of fundamental differences between Belarusian law and the law of the country of which he was a citizen.
3 years
limitation period for division claims, counted from when a spouse learned of the violation
5%
state duty on the amount claimed in court
2 routes
court division and a marriage contract combined
Section 01
Divorce and Division of Joint Property: Is There a Link?
In a number of countries, such as France, Italy and the United Kingdom, divorce is inseparable from the division of property, child support, financial provision for the former spouse and so on. Belarus takes a different approach: from a legal standpoint, a divorce and, say, the division of a flat bought during the marriage are two separate processes, even when the divorce goes through the courts. A court may dissolve a marriage at the request of one spouse without touching on the division of property at all, especially if neither party raises the issue. A property division dispute can be heard after the divorce.
Our approach
With this in mind, we initiated divorce proceedings and filed a separate claim for the division of jointly acquired property.
The court accepted the divorce petition, and the spouses were given time to reconcile and look for a way to save their family, as required by family law. The reconciliation period is three months from the date the case is opened.
The claim for the division of jointly acquired property was filed separately. The first hearing took place a few weeks after the claim was filed. By the time the marriage was dissolved, the court had already settled most of the property issues.
Section 02
Limitation Period for Claims to Divide Joint Property
The client was worried about missing the deadline for filing a claim to divide jointly acquired property: in his view, spouses have just a few years after divorce to bring such a claim. As the spouses had already been living apart for some time when the divorce petition was filed, the client was keen to resolve the dispute as quickly as possible.
Key fact
Under Belarusian court practice, the deadline for filing a claim to divide joint property is tied neither to the date the spouses stopped running a joint household nor to the date of the divorce: a claim can be filed much later. The three-year limitation period for division claims runs not from the date the marriage was dissolved, but from the moment the other spouse learned that their right to the joint property had been violated. To put it simply: five years after the divorce, the husband sells a car bought during the marriage. The ex-wife will have three years from the moment she finds out to recover half of the car’s value.
Section 03
Dividing Property Through the Courts: Are There Alternatives?
Good to know
The most effective way to divide property is out of court. If the spouses are still married, they can sign a marriage contract before a notary; if the marriage has already been dissolved, they can sign a property division agreement before a notary. These documents have the same legal force as a court judgment.
Dividing property through the courts involves considerable expense. First, if real estate is to be divided, the prospective claimant must obtain an independent valuation of the flat, country house or land plot. This is needed to calculate the value of the claim and the amount of state duty, which must be paid before the proceedings begin.
Important
The state duty is 5 per cent of what one of the spouses is claiming, for example, half the value of a flat.
In addition, the client’s case required information on the market value of the property, including assets that cannot be physically divided between the spouses. For example, a car was bought during the marriage, so when hearing the claim, the court will decide which spouse keeps the vehicle and which spouse should be “awarded” compensation equal to half of the car’s market value.
Section 04
Division of Property: The Outcome of the Dispute
The outcome
Under the comprehensive strategy approved by the client, some of the property was divided by the court, and a marriage contract was signed in respect of other assets; its legal force was later recognised in the client’s country of citizenship. Of particular practical interest was the dispute over the division of stakes in companies that had been registered during the marriage.