How to File for Divorce: Civil Registry Office or Court

When this is relevant

This guide is for anyone plan­ning to end a mar­riage who is unsure where to apply: the civil reg­istry office, an ad­min­is­tra­tive service centre, a court, or an elec­tron­ic court service. A common initial mistake is choos­ing the civil reg­istry route despite having chil­dren, or filing a claim without check­ing ter­ri­to­r­i­al ju­ris­dic­tion.

For Kyiv, the route depends not on the res­i­den­tial dis­trict alone but on legal cir­cum­stances: whether there are joint minor chil­dren, whether the other spouse agrees, where the re­spon­dent is reg­is­tered, whether the claimant may file at their own place of res­i­dence, and whether main­te­nance, prop­er­ty, or child-related matters also need to be re­solved.

What time limit or procedure applies

If the spouses have no chil­dren and both agree, they may apply to a civil reg­istry office or through an ad­min­is­tra­tive service centre as part of the rel­e­vant ad­min­is­tra­tive service. The civil reg­istry office makes the record one month after the ap­pli­ca­tion is filed, unless it has been with­drawn. During martial law, Diia de­scribes the pos­si­bil­i­ty of ap­ply­ing to any civil reg­istry office at the ap­pli­cant’s request.

If the spouses have joint minor chil­dren but have reached an agree­ment, the Family Code allows them to apply jointly to the court with a written agree­ment stating which parent the chil­dren will live with and how the other parent will con­tribute to their care, support, and up­bring­ing. The court grants the ap­pli­ca­tion if it is sat­is­fied that it re­flects the spouses’ genuine intent and does not violate the chil­dren’s rights.

If there is no consent, the other spouse is not re­spond­ing, or there is a con­flict, a claim for divorce is usually filed. The current version of the Family Code allows either spouse to bring such a claim; before pub­lish­ing or filing, do not rely on out­dat­ed online advice without check­ing the law cur­rent­ly in force.

How to proceed step by step

First, decide which route applies. If there are no chil­dren and both spouses agree, check the civil reg­istry office or ad­min­is­tra­tive service centre. If there are chil­dren and the spouses agree, prepare a joint court ap­pli­ca­tion and an agree­ment con­cern­ing the chil­dren. If there is no consent, prepare a claim and check the court venue.

Then gather the doc­u­ments. For the civil reg­istry office, these usually include iden­ti­ty doc­u­ments, the mar­riage cer­tifi­cate if avail­able, the ap­pli­ca­tion, and proof of payment of the state duty or en­ti­tle­ment to an ex­emp­tion. For court, prepare a claim or joint ap­pli­ca­tion, the mar­riage cer­tifi­cate, doc­u­ments con­cern­ing the chil­dren, proof of payment of the court fee, copies for the par­tic­i­pants, and ev­i­dence sup­port­ing the chosen venue.

Next, check where to file. Claims against an in­di­vid­ual are gen­er­al­ly filed at the re­spon­dent’s reg­is­tered place of res­i­dence or stay, but the Civil Pro­ce­dure Code allows the claimant to choose a venue in certain cases and sets sep­a­rate rules for parties living outside Ukraine. For a Kyiv-based case, verify the court through the of­fi­cial Ju­di­cia­ry search service.

What to check before filing

Do not au­to­mat­i­cal­ly combine divorce with every family-law issue. Child main­te­nance, a penalty for late main­te­nance pay­ments, the child’s place of res­i­dence, par­tic­i­pa­tion in up­bring­ing, di­vi­sion of marital prop­er­ty, and debts may be related to the divorce, but it is not always useful or ap­pro­pri­ate to claim them in the same pro­ceed­ings.

Check the court fee sep­a­rate­ly. The law sets the fee for a divorce claim as a pro­por­tion of the sub­sis­tence minimum for able-bodied persons, while prop­er­ty di­vi­sion is cal­cu­lat­ed under its own rules. Before paying, verify the current rate, the court’s payment details, and the payment ref­er­ence.

If the other spouse lives abroad, their address is unknown, or they do not receive cor­re­spon­dence, plan how to prove service and confirm venue before filing. A mistake at this stage may delay the case or result in the doc­u­ments being re­turned.

When to consult a lawyer

A lawyer can help if there are chil­dren, the other spouse objects, their res­i­dence is unknown, there is prop­er­ty, debt, main­te­nance, a risk of do­mes­tic vi­o­lence, or the doc­u­ments need to be filed prompt­ly without being re­turned. In these sit­u­a­tions, the goal is not only to obtain a divorce but also to protect related claims.

For Kyiv, a con­sul­ta­tion is also useful to check whether the civil reg­istry office or ad­min­is­tra­tive service centre is ap­pro­pri­ate, which local court to choose, whether elec­tron­ic filing is avail­able, what court fee to pay, and which claims are better brought sep­a­rate­ly.