On 3 October 2024, Kyiv hosted the II Forum on Family and Inheritance Law. The event, organised by the Ukrainian Bar Association (UBA), brought together the leading experts in the field of family and inheritance law to discuss topical issues related to:
- legal regulation of marriage and family relations
- adoption and custody of children
- international aspects of returning children to and from Ukraine
- peculiarities of inheritance and inheritance planning, in particular during the war
- inheritance with an international element
Asters' Associate Maryna Korniienko spoke at the first session “Marriage, family and marital relations in the modern world”. She delivered a presentation on the contractual settlement of parental relations in relation to children and joined the discussion on divorce, particularly for couples living abroad, and civil marriage and how to prove it during property division and inheritance. One of the most interesting issues on the agenda was alternative dispute resolution, namely the settlement of disputes related to the children and property through mediation.
Partner and Head of Family and Inheritance at Asters Talina Kravtsova moderated the second session devoted to the different issues of children during the war. The participants discussed how to help children left without parental care, as well as the grounds on which a child can acquire the status of an orphan and a child deprived of parental care. Particular attention was paid to the issue of returning children to and from Ukraine, related trends and challenges in the context of the 980 Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction and the 1996 Convention in terms of jurisdiction of disputes related to children. The speakers also presented the current court practice in the field of child protection.
The discussion of the third session on inheritance issues was moderated by Asters’ Counsel and Family Mediator Yuri Neklyaev. The participants paid attention to the issues of testament and inheritance agreements in Ukraine, as well as the peculiarities of inheritance of assets abroad. The experts shared the novelties of court practice related to the inheritance cases and the peculiarities of inheriting property damaged/destroyed by war. Particular attention was paid to the issue of military personnel's testament, drafting of a military’s order in case of death and the rules for paying state aid to their families.
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Asters is the largest full-service law firm in Ukraine with offices in Kyiv, Brussels, London, and Washington, D.C., and access to over 125 jurisdictions through a well-developed network of partner law firms.
