Ruling of the Higher Specialized Court of Ukraine for Civil and Criminal Cases, dated December 14, 2016, case No. 756/10797/15-ц. Available at http://reyestr.court.gov.ua/Review/63583511

In accordance with Articles 69, 70 of the Ukrainian Family Code a wife and a husband have a right to divide the property co-owned by them,  regardless of whether they get divorced or keep on being married. In case of dividing the co-owned property wife’s and husband’s shares in the property shall be equal, unless otherwise provided for in their agreement or marriage contract.

Money contributed by a spouse who is a company shareholder to the capital of this company at the expense of the spouses‘ joint property shall become property of the company; and the joint property title of the other spouse shall be transformed into another one – a right to recover the value of such a contribution. At the same time one of the important things here is whether the contributed to the capital joint property of the spouses was acquired by the spouses during their cohabitation.

Given that, if one of the spouses who is a company shareholder contributes property to the capital of this company at the expense of joint property of the spouses, then such property shall become the property of the company, and the joint property title of the other spouse shall be transformed – in case of spouses’ property division – into a right to recover a half of the value of the property contributed or into a right to obtain a half of the income earned on the share in question.

© Yuriy Karlash, English translation, 2017

© Yuriy Karlash, compilation, 2017