Proceedings in a bankruptcy case revealed a prenuptial agreement provision that allowed the debtor, at his sole discretion, at any time foreclose from the bankruptcy estate three-quarters of the property by submitting a petition for a divorce with his spouse. After the divorce petition was submitted, the debtor's financial receiver filed a claim into the court that a separate provision of the prenuptial agreement be recognized invalid.
In the original hearing of the dispute, the courts of the first and the appeals instances refused to invalidate the deal, pointing to the fact that the prenuptial agreement had been concluded 7 years prior to institution of the bankruptcy case and more than 10 years prior to submission of the petition being handled. The efforts of associates were drastically hampered by lack of the applicable case law.
In the court of cassation KIAP associates managed to convince the panel of judges that the agreement provision being challenged was a conditional deal, hence the deal was struck in 2021 – at the time of marriage dissolution. The court sent the dispute for re-examination, during which the deal was recognized invalid.
As a consequence, the work done by the KIAP team enabled to preserve at least RUB 130 million in the debtor's bankruptcy estate, which improved the chances for the Firm's principal to have his claims satisfied.
To learn more about the cassation court ruling, which rectified the error made by the courts, click here.
The project was completed by Daniil Zherdev, Senior Associate, and Anna Andreyeva, Associate.