The Russian Supreme Court clarifies jurisdiction over spousal disputes concerning restoration of rights to shares as part of joint marital property
A spouse filed a claim with a commercial court seeking to declare null and void the reorganisation of a JSC carried out by her husband without her notarised consent. The shares were acquired during the marriage. After the de facto termination of marital relations and the filing of a claim for division of property, the claimant became aware of the JSC’s reorganisation in the form of a merger into another company.
The commercial courts refused to transfer the case to a court of general jurisdiction, qualifying the dispute as corporate in nature due to the challenge of a share disposal transaction.
The Russian Supreme Court overturned the said judicial acts, holding that the claimant’s claims arise from family and marital relations and are aimed at restoring the right of common property. Such disputes fall under the jurisdiction of courts of general jurisdiction. The corporate nature of a dispute is not determined solely by the subject matter of the claim. The key criterion for distinguishing competence is the legal nature of the legal relationship from which the dispute arose.
