‘In Ukraine, the property of a fined conscript can be seized, even if it is registered in the name of his wife’, – lawyer says

Property of a fined conscript can be seized even if it is registered in the name of the wife.

This information stated Rostyslav Kravets, head of the law firm “Kravets & Partners.”

According to the law, if unpaid fines exceed 160,000 hryvnias, the enforcement service can seize the debtor’s real estate, including that registered in the spouse’s name. This applies if the property (and other assets) was acquired after the marriage.

“By law, property acquired during marriage belongs equally to both spouses. Therefore, the enforcement service can claim 50% of the value of the debtor’s apartment, even if it is registered in the wife’s name. If the fine amount is smaller, even by 1 hryvnia, the same principle applies to any other joint property, such as a car,” Kravets explained.

However, in practice, the procedure for such confiscation is quite complicated, says the lawyer.

The enforcement service would need to additionally apply to the court, then sell the property and compensate the debtor’s wife for her share of the property’s value.

“The debtor’s wife, in turn, can contest the sale price of the property on the grounds that it was undervalued,” Kravets added.

Moreover, there is a loophole that can help avoid the seizure of jointly acquired property.

Kravets suggests that to avoid property seizure due to fines, a man can gift the apartment to his wife by drawing up a deed of gift. Alternatively, he can sell the property to his wife.

Kyiv realtor and lawyer Iryna Luhanina also mentioned this option.

“One can draw up a sale contract with the wife or, for example, with the mother. However, this will require paying taxes—1% on the first sale, 7.5% on the second, and 19.5% on the third sale of property registered to you within the current year,” she explained.

Notably, many men rushed to “gift” apartments and cars to their wives and mothers just before the new mobilization law came into effect, resulting in long queues at notaries and the Ministry of Internal Affairs service centers.

However, gifting or selling property to the wife or close relatives does not 100% guarantee that the same property will not be confiscated. The authorities would need to separately appeal to the court to cancel the deed of gift.

“Deeds of gift are among the easiest to challenge in court. The court can determine that there was intentional re-registration of property and ‘cancel’ the deed of gift,” Luhanina said.

Kravets also confirmed that a deed of gift can be challenged in court, as can a sale contract.

“The latter is harder to annul but still possible. The wife would have to prove that she used personal funds, not marital savings, to ‘purchase’ the property, which is not always easy,” Kravets added.

However, considering the large volume of cases, it is uncertain whether lawsuits to cancel deeds of gift and sale contracts will be widespread.

It is worth noting that for violations of military registration in Ukraine, increased fines are in effect—ranging from 17,000 UAH (375 euros) to 25,500 UAH (562 euros). The number of such fines is unlimited—in theory, they can be issued for each missed summons (now sent by mail) or for failure to update data.

There are also time limitations—fines can only be issued within a year after the offense is committed.