This season, one of the most high-profile divorces is being discussed: Tatyana and Vladislav Bakalchuk break up. The absence of a marriage contract complicates the situation, since the decision to divide their common business will be based solely on Russian legislation. Despite the fact that Vladislav formally owns only 1% of the business, he insists on an equal division of property.
Whose side is the court practice on?
On the most fundamental issues of dividing family business assets, the Economic Board of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation has formulated several important positions in recent years, some of which may also be relevant in the current case:
1. In case of divorce, the section will include not only shares or shares, but also business income (ruling dated March 26, 2019 in case No. 81-KG19-2);
2. The spouse must obtain the consent of the other members of the firm to join the LLC after dividing the shares in the divorce proceedings. If there is no such approval, the ex-spouse can only receive payment of the actual value of the share and is not entitled to become a member of the organization (No. A40-324092/2019);
3. If one spouse changes the company's charter on the eve or during the separation process and thereby blocks the other spouse from entering, this is considered abuse (No. A12-26592/2022).
Oleg Ganyushin, Head of Corporate Law and Bankruptcy Practice at Versus.Legal, shared his opinion with Pravo.ru: “If the couple opened an LLC a long time ago and “registered” it in only one of them, without specifying in the charter a ban on the entry of third parties, then when dividing up, both husband and wife have the right to manage the company and be its members. If the firm has independent members and there is a ban on third parties from entering, then a spouse who did not own a share and received it under the section will only be able to receive its actual value.”
The full version of the article can be found on Pravo.ru at link.