Lawyer gave advice on preparing for property division in divorce

The issue of division of property between spouses upon dissolution of marriage is of concern to many. Among property disputes it is one of the main most uncomfortable for the parties, said Oleg Dubinin, managing partner of the consulting company "Dubinin & Partners", a member of the Russian Bar Association. The expert told "Izvestia" on February 20, how to make this section passed within the framework of reasonable and constructive dialog and cooperation.

First, he said, it is necessary to determine the range of property.

"Not all spouses know what jointly acquired property is. Only the property that was received by the spouses jointly or by any of them separately under contracts for the money accumulated by the spouses within the marriage is recognized as jointly acquired. The property received by one of the spouses under a gratuitous transaction (gift, inheritance, first privatization of municipal housing) will not be jointly acquired property", - said Dubinin.

In addition, are not subject to the division of personal belongings of the spouses, except for expensive luxury items. As a result, accounts in banks and other financial organizations, opened on the spouses, vehicles registered to one of the spouses (joint ownership of a vehicle is impossible by virtue of the law), immovable property acquired at the expense of income in marriage, luxury items and collectibles and often can also be subject to the division of pets.

"Once it has been determined what is subject to division, it is necessary to put all of that property on a separate list to determine to whom and to what extent assets will be transferred upon dissolution of the marriage. At this stage, it is possible for the parties to act as affirmatively as possible to divide the property to the greatest benefit of both parties. In case the parties can not decide who will get what assets, you can do an appraisal examination to determine the value of all assets and then already divide them in the framework of equal value of the final assets for each of the parties, "- explained the lawyer.

The expert noted that it is necessary to obtain information on whether there was no withdrawal of assets on the part of the second spouse to hide them from the division. According to him, in practice, it often happens when a party, preparing for divorce, tries to withdraw assets to show that at the time of divorce assets on it almost no.

"This is usually: selling real estate and vehicles, closing bank accounts, closing legal entities and transferring them to controlled persons. These are all standard means of attempting to withdraw assets. So how do you find out about these actions? For accounts, you can make inquiries to banks to verify the existence of accounts and the movement of funds on the account. For cars - inquiries to the traffic police. For real estate - requests to Rosreestr to get information on what transactions a person has made over the past three years with his property," said Dubinin.

He drew attention to the fact that not always the answers to these requests a person will be able to get independently, but in case of impossibility to get these data and with a clear understanding that the second spouse withdrew assets, it is necessary to apply to the court for the division of property and the court itself will request these data and get them.

"I would like to additionally note that the preparation for divorce and division of property should be mutual and aimed at achieving a normal civilized expense without "battles and scenes." Then the parties can constructively negotiate and come to a mutually beneficial agreement on the division of property. If the agreement could not be reached, then only get all the information within the framework of the court with the division of property, [which may lead to] mutual disadvantage of the parties," - concluded Dubinin.

Earlier, on February 16, Victoria Danilchenko, a lawyer and chairman of the Victoria Danilchenko Bar Association, told Izvestia that, according to family law, the common debts of spouses are distributed between them in proportion to their awarded shares in the common property. According to her, the spouses have the right to distribute such debts both within the framework of the marriage union and after its termination, whether it is irrespective of the procedure for dividing jointly acquired property or within the framework of this procedure.