Kazakhstan to change divorce rules - who will be affected

Tengrinews.kz – From September 16, Kazakhstan will introduce changes to the rules for dissolving a marriage, following amendments to the country’s Marriage and Family Code.

The new provisions are part of the law “On Amendments and Additions to Certain Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the Optimization of Criminal Legislation”.

Under the updated rules, a marriage can now be dissolved if one spouse has been on the international wanted list for more than three years from the date a court approved the criminal prosecution authority’s decision to declare them internationally wanted.

Similar changes have been made to Articles 238 and 241 of the Code, which regulate the judicial procedure for divorce. This means that if a spouse has been in hiding and on the international wanted list for an extended period, the other spouse can file for divorce in court without their presence.

Rinat Sharlezz, a lawyer with the Astana Bar Association, told Tengrinews.kz that the update simply adds to the already existing list of grounds for unilateral divorce — but in practice, it is unlikely to be widely used.

“In essence, it’s just one more ground. Previously, the law already allowed divorce if a spouse was declared legally incapacitated, missing, or convicted. Now, if a spouse has been on the international wanted list for over three years, the marriage can also be terminated,” he explained.

The lawyer stressed that such divorces require a decision from the pre-trial investigation authority and confirmation by a court that the spouse is on the international wanted list. However, such situations are extremely rare.

“In my entire practice, I’ve only encountered one case where a woman’s husband was internationally wanted. Even then, divorce wasn’t an issue — she was able to dissolve the marriage without difficulty because he was living abroad. According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, there are only a handful of such people. So this is not a common occurrence, and frankly, the amendment is more interesting as a legal fact than as a mechanism that will significantly affect citizens’ lives,” Sharlezz added.

He also noted that the change should not create any difficulties in practice, as it applies exclusively to rare cases where one spouse has been internationally wanted for a prolonged period.