Round Table of the Council of the Federation on Mattes of Family and Migration Law

On November 20, 2015 the Council of Federation of the Federal Assembly of Russian Federation held a round table on issues of legal regulation of the departure of Russian children from the territory of the Russian Federation. The LEAD Consulting partner Alexander Linnikov attended the event organized by the Committee of the Council of Federation on Constitutional Legislation and State-Building and the Commission of the Public Chamber on Support of Family, Children and Motherhood.

Alexander Linnikov shared with the participants of the round table his observations from the practice of the LEAD Consulting Law Firm in the field of family law and made several suggestions on ways of improvement of the legal regulation of the departure of Russian children from Russia.

The participants of the discussion highlighted several common problems connected with the departure of the children abroad. In particular, the parents who are divorced or planning to be divorced are frequently abusing the right to block the travel of a child abroad. Often this right to ban is used during divorce proceedings as a tool of pressure.

Several legislative initiatives were announced during the discussion by the Federal Migration Service (FMS). It is proposed that in case of appeal of one of the parents to the FMS with imposing a “leaving abroad” ban on the child such ban will work no more than 15 days. Then, in order to extend this ban, the parent should appeal to the court. At the same time he is obliged to notify of his actions the other parent. The court is asked to review such application in 10 days’ time. According to the idea of representatives of the Federal Migration Service, such measures will help to balance the rights of both parents.

It is symbolic that this round table was held in the All-Russian Day of Legal Assistance to Children. In addition to the current practice in the field of family and inheritance law, lawyers of the LEAD Consulting Law Firm regularly advise disadvantaged families pro bono and help people who are unable to pay for professional legal assistance to resolve legal and social problems.