FAMILY LAW

Our team advises and represents both foreign individuals and local citizens in the legal and financial aspects of family relations. We ensure that matrimonial and inheritance rights of our clients are well protected under the laws of Azerbaijan. 

Family laws and regulations 

Local family laws and regulations are mainly codified, and specified in the Family Code. The legal status of marriage and divorce, parental rights and duties, the joint property status of wife and husband, matrimonial agreement, pre-nuptial settlement, child rights and child custody, alimony, child adoption, and similar family issues are strictly regulated. Many foreign citizens enter into marriage in Azerbaijan, or with Azerbaijani citizens without being aware of rights and duties, or joint property status that applies all the property obtained during the marriage. It is advised obtaining proper consultancy before marriage, as well as before the critical points of an internal family crisis that may lead to divorce and legal battles over child custody. 

Our trusted Azerbaijani family lawyers provide the following services:

• Marriage (Matrimonial/Prenuptial) contract and consultancy;
• International marriages and divorces involving Azerbaijani citizens; 
• Child rights in family conflicts;
• Property management and allocation during divorce;
• Visitation and parental rights of divorcing parents;
• Divorce and financial settlements;
• Child custody; 
• Recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments related to family law matters;  
• Child adoption; 
• inheritance consultancy and documentation; 
• Any other family law-related service. 

Steps and Recommendations Regarding entering into marriage:

1. Before entering into marriage, the spouse must ensure that the prospective wife/husband has no effective marriage. This requires not only to be “single” in Azerbaijan, but also anywhere in the world; 
2. Proper blood tests must be undertaken in order to ensure that the spouse has no certain diseases or is aware of such diseases before entering into marriage; 
3. Negotiation of Prenuptial Agreement/Matrimonial Agreement. Particular attention must be paid to the ownership shares, over the property obtained during the marriage, of any asset generated by each party (default rule is 50%-50% joint ownership), duties of wife and husband, pre-marriage and during-marriage loans, rights, and duties regarding children, and other vital clauses; 
4. Entering into marriage and signing of the Prenuptial Agreement/Matrimonial Agreement before marriage.

Steps and recommendations regarding divorce:

We suggest consulting family lawyers before initiating any divorce-related negotiations or raising willingness to divorce. A person with divorce intention must ensure several points before proceeding to divorce. The general steps and recommendations would be as follows:

1. Find properly experienced family lawyer and check their profile regarding international marriage and divorce cases; 
2. Sign non-disclosure agreement with the family lawyer before providing any sensitive information; 
3. Provide full information and documents regarding the marriage, children, financial aspects and property generated during the marriage; 
4. A different strategy must be selected regarding the property owned during the marriage in fact, but registered under third party name (e.g. parents of the wife or husband); 
5. Possible Financial Settlement clauses shall be negotiated with the parties in order to avoid any court dispute; 
6. Amount of alimony and the party paying the alimony shall be clarified and calculated with realistic figures; 
7. Child custody issues shall be negotiated: It must be noted that in Azerbaijan, mother (wife) has a priority right over children who are above 10 years of age where this is in the best interest of the child;
8. Where any peaceful resolution attempts fail, court claim shall be instituted regarding the divorce