The Central District Court of Khabarovsk and child return cases under the 1980 Hague Convention

Article 244.11 of the Russian Code of Civil Procedure assigns child return and access cases to the Central District Court of Khabarovsk when the child is present within the Far Eastern Federal District. What matters is where the child actually is, not where the parents are registered or where the respondent lives.

The Far Eastern Federal District comprises the Republic of Buryatia, the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the Zabaykalsky, Kamchatka, Primorsky and Khabarovsk Territories, the Amur, Magadan and Sakhalin Regions, the Jewish Autonomous Region and the Chukotka Autonomous Area.

At the end of 2018 the administrative center of the Far Eastern Federal District was moved from Khabarovsk to Vladivostok, but Article 244.11 of the Code of Civil Procedure still names the Central District Court of Khabarovsk. Applications concerning children present in Primorye, including Vladivostok, are therefore filed in Khabarovsk.

This is the largest federal district by area. From Yakutia, Kamchatka, Magadan, Sakhalin or Chukotka it takes hours to fly to Khabarovsk, so participation in the proceedings and delivery of documents should be planned from day one.

Regions of the district border China, and Primorye and Sakhalin lie close to Japan and Korea. Mainland China is not a party to the 1980 Convention; Hong Kong and Macao apply it as special administrative regions of the PRC, but whether it is in force between them and Russia must be checked separately. Japan and the Republic of Korea are parties to the Convention, and the same check is needed for them.

Address: 60 Serysheva Street, Khabarovsk, 680038. Official website: centralnyr.hbr.sudrf.ru (in Russian).

Do not confuse it with the Central District Court of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, which is also in the Khabarovsk Territory: 1980 Convention applications are heard by the court in Khabarovsk.

The application is heard within no more than 42 days of its acceptance by the court, with the mandatory participation of the prosecutor and the guardianship authority. Appeals against decisions of the Central District Court of Khabarovsk are heard by the Khabarovsk Territorial Court: the appeal is filed within 10 days of the decision being issued in final form, and the appellate court hears the case within no more than one month.

If the child is in the Far Eastern Federal District, a lawyer can help confirm the jurisdiction of the Central District Court of Khabarovsk, prepare the application and evidence, and — where there is a risk that the child will be taken away — apply for interim measures.