Ukrainian Divorce Not Recognised In English Court

A Leicester man is fighting his Ukrainian internet bride in the divorce courts for a "fair share" of the wealth she made after arriving in the UK.

John Yates met Marina Ivleva through an international dating site in 1999. The couple split two years ago, by which point Ms Ivleva had become a senior administrator at De Montford University and had amassed assets valued at £300,000.

Mr Yates, a truck driver who currently lives in council accommodation, argues that he is entitled to some of the proceeds of their marriage.

Ms Ivleva has already divorced her husband through the Ukrainian courts, although the High Court refused to recognise the divorce in England earlier this year.

In a ruling, Mr Justice Peter Jackson said "basic fairness" should allow Mr Yates the chance to divorce his wife in England.

Ms Ivleva unsuccessfully challenged the decision in the Court of Appeal, opening the way for Mr Yates to pursue his divorce petition and seek financial orders against his wife.

Expert Opinion

In this case, divorce proceedings were issued first in England. However, the wife claimed she was frustrated with how long the English courts were taking and instead issued another divorce petition in her home country of Ukraine. <br/> <br/>"Under Ukrainian rules, as the wife claimed she could not contact her husband while petitioning for divorce in Ukraine, she was able to notify him of the Ukrainian proceedings by publishing a public notice. <br/> <br/>"Her notice took the form of a small classified advertisement in a local newspaper written in Ukrainian, which did not come to the husband’s attention, not surprisingly. The High Court judge ruled that her Ukrainian divorce was not recognized in UK, opening the way for the husband to proceed with a divorce – and financial settlement – in England. <br/> <br/>"The Judge said that she had not taken reasonable steps to notify her husband of the foreign proceedings. In England and Wales, if the opponent to a divorce cannot be located, there is a procedure that permits a court to dispense with service of a divorce petition on the other party only if every effort has been made to find and serve the divorce petition upon him or her. <br/> <br/>"Clients with an international connection should always seek early, often urgent, advice from family lawyers about the jurisdiction in which a divorce should take place. Applications for a divorce to be heard in another country are often referred to as ‘forum shopping’ or 'divorce tourism' and may be driven by a desire to achieve a higher financial settlement for themselves in one jurisdiction than another, or alternatively frustrate the other party from seeking a larger settlement in a different jurisdiction. <br/> <br/>"Different rules for financial settlements apply in different countries around the world, with variations even existing between England and Scotland."