Divorce with Certain Categories of Persons in Family Law of Ukraine

Abstract

The paper deals with the issues on divorce with certain categories of citizens in the family law of Ukraine. Particular attention is paid to the legal and certain procedural aspects of divorce with such categories of persons as servicemen (including prisoners of war), persons sentenced to imprisonment, persons suffering from mental disorders, and persons who are temporarily out of Ukraine’s control. The purpose of the paper is to research the issue of divorce with certain categories of persons in the family law of Ukraine in order to find appropriate ways to solve problems in this field. Such scientific methods as analysis, synthesis, law and comparative analysis, and elements of content-analysis are applied in the paper. Court cases were analysed with the help of method of cases and they were used as illustration of practice of divorce with certain categories of persons. Ways of resolving of problems that have place in the researched field are suggested. In particular, it is suggested to amend the family legislation of Ukraine, which would: enshrine persons sentenced to imprisonment for a term of not less than five years, as a separate category of persons in the sense of divorce at the request of one of the spouses; it was forbidden to divorce prisoners of war until they returned from captivity. Emphasis is placed on the need to change the conceptual approach of the courts to divorce a person suffering from a mental disorder, which cannot be a basis for declaring a person incompetent. Emphasis is placed on the need to change the conceptual approach of the courts to divorce a person suffering from a mental disorder, which cannot be a basis for declaring a person incompetent. In particular, there is suggested to either create a legal basis for the courts not to take into account the circumstances of mental illness in divorce proceedings, which cannot be a ground for recognizing the incapacity of one of the parties (usually the defendant) as the dominant cause of divorce, or to turn to the actual institution of judicial precedent.