Limitation period for division of property

Limitation period for division of property

The limitation period for dividing joint property between spouses is the period of time during which it is possible to restore the violated right.

An appeal to the court with a request to divide common property can be filed by a spouse in the following cases:

• when spouses are married, but either plan or do not plan to divorce;
• when the spouses are in the process of divorce;
• after the couple divorced.

The period of time when one of the spouses has the opportunity to go to court with a request to divide the common property after the divorce process is three years (Family Code of Ukraine)

Limitation period for division of marital property

In the case where the former spouses, after a divorce, do not cease to reside and use common property (for example, they live together in an apartment that they bought while married), then the limitation period will begin only from the period when the husband or wife is unable to exercise your rights in this apartment, for example:

• the husband will forbid his wife to enter the apartment;
• disagreements will arise between the wife and husband regarding the order of living in this apartment;
• the husband will sell the apartment without the knowledge and consent of his wife, etc.

The limitation period begins from the day the husband or wife learned or should have known about the violation of their right, and not from the day the spouses divorced.

Also, the statute of limitations can begin after a long time, regardless of when the spouses divorced. In this case, the spouse has the right to demand in court protection and restoration of the violated right.

When does the statute of limitations apply when dividing marital property?

Example

While married, the husband hid the information from his wife that he had bought a new car. 4 years after the couple divorced, the wife found out about the availability of this car and wrote an application to the court for its distribution. The court satisfied the spouses’ demands and divided the property. The period of time during which the wife could go to court in this case began not from the moment she separated from her husband, but from the moment she learned about the existence of this car in her ex-husband’s possession.

The limitation period is applied by the court on the basis of a statement from the husband or wife, which was drawn up before the court made a decision.

In the application, the husband or wife must indicate all the circumstances under which they learned about the violated right, namely a list of common property indicating its price, date of purchase, and also provide the court with evidence indicating that this common property was acquired by the spouses using common funds. during their marriage. If there is a possibility that the common property of the spouses may be sold, it is necessary to apply to the court with a request to seize this property in order to preserve it (Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine). In this case, the limitation period will begin from the date specified in the application.

Law on the statute of limitations for the division of marital property

The Civil Code of Ukraine provides for cases when it is possible to suspend the expiration of the limitation period, which also applies to controversial relationships regarding the division of common property between spouses, for example in the case of:

• if filing an application with the court was prevented by an emergency (for example, a natural disaster);
• if one of the spouses serves in the army and is transferred to military status;
• if the fulfillment of the obligation is delayed;
• in case of suspension of the document coordinating these relations between spouses.

The limitation period may be interrupted, for example, in the case where the husband applied to the court for the division of common property, and the wife performed a certain action indicating his recognition of the obligation.

Judicial practice of applying the statute of limitations when dividing property

Example

A man wrote an application to the court for the division of a country house purchased together with his wife during their marriage. At the court hearing, it was proven that the couple bought this house while they were married. After the divorce in 2015, the house was sold by the wife. She partially gave the proceeds from the sale of the house to her husband. The husband demanded that she pay him the funds, since the spouses’ shares in the common property should be equal.

In court, the spouse pointed out that the statute of limitations had expired, since more than three years had passed from the moment the house was sold to the moment the spouse filed a claim with the court to recover the value of his share in the jointly acquired property. The man’s demand was satisfied by the court’s decision. The spouses’ arguments about the passage of the limitation period were rejected due to the fact that the wife paid her husband part of the amount from the sale of the house, which became her recognition of the obligation and interrupted the running of the limitation period (CL).

Consequences of missing the statute of limitations for division of property

As a general rule, the expiration of the limitation period prevents the interested party from filing a lawsuit. However, during the distribution of the common property of the spouses, this does not always prevent the husband or wife from going to court.

Example

The couple were divorced in 2010. After this, the spouse permanently lived in the apartment acquired during the marriage using the joint funds of the spouses. The division of this apartment after the divorce was not carried out, therefore the spouses had the same rights to this apartment. In 2019, the wife applied to the court for the division of this apartment as common property between her and her husband.

In this case, the limitation period will not apply. If, after the divorce, the former spouses continued to live in the apartment, then the statute of limitations began from the day on which the spouse committed an action that prevented the wife from living and using this apartment. From this situation it is impossible to accurately determine the period from which the rights of the spouses were violated.

Restoring the statute of limitations for division of property

A missed deadline may be restored if there are appropriate valid reasons. Let’s look at them in more detail.

Reasons for missing the statute of limitations when dividing property

Good reasons why one of the spouses could not go to court in time to protect his violated right include:

• serious health disorder over a long period of time;
• a state in which the spouses were not able to realize the meaning and meaning of their actions;
• illiteracy, etc.

Thus, the legislator does not limit the concept of a valid reason to a specific framework, and in some cases there may be other reasons that the court can recognize as valid.

If a spouse has missed the statute of limitations for a reason that he considers truly valid, they have the opportunity to prove their validity and thereby demand that the missed period be restored.

It is important to note that a valid reason will be valid only if it occurred in the last six months of the limitation period, and if this period of time is six months or less than six months – during the limitation period (Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine).

• If at a court hearing the court establishes the fact that the reasons why a person missed the statute of limitations were not valid, it will refuse to further consider the case and terminate it.
• If one of the spouses missed the statute of limitations for the division of common property for good reasons, the missed period of time can be restored in court (Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine).

Application for renewal of the statute of limitations for division of property

One of the spouses, who for good reasons missed the statute of limitations, will need to apply to the court to renew the missed period, which should set out the circumstances under which it was not possible to demand protection of their rights in court within the period of time established by law.

The spouses’ application to renew the statute of limitations must be sent to the court at the spouse’s place of residence, otherwise the judge will not consider it due to lack of jurisdiction.

Example

The wife went to court with a demand for division of common property. The man’s place of residence in the application was indicated in the territory in which the court was not authorized to consider this dispute. In this situation, the court refused to allow the wife to consider this case and left it without movement.

Documents confirming the validity of these reasons must be added to the application for the renewal of the missed deadline, for example, in the case of a serious long-term health disorder, medical certificates, doctor’s reports and relevant extracts from the hospital must be attached, indicating the complexity and long period of the disease, as well as the duration of its treatment . Based on the documents attached to the application, the court will determine whether these circumstances are truly valid and whether they prevented the person from going to court for protection of violated rights during the expiration of the limitation period.

Lawyer’s answers: statute of limitations for division of property

Limitation period for dividing marital property: terms

If the spouses do not agree on the division of common property voluntarily, the dispute will be resolved in court. A three-year statute of limitations applies to the claims of spouses for the division of common property, but it does not begin from the moment of divorce between the spouses, but from the moment when one of them learned or could find out about the violated right.

For example, a person whose rights have been violated may learn about the sale of common property in a few years. So, only from the moment one of the spouses learned of his violated right will the statute of limitations begin. To do this, a man whose right has been violated goes to court and indicates in the application all the circumstances under which he learned of the violated right to common property.

In this case, the court will consider the man’s claim to protect the violated right, regardless of the expiration of the statute of limitations. Reinstatement of the missed statute of limitations will be considered by the court on the basis of an application from the spouse indicating good reasons that led to the omission of this period of time.