Mamma Mia! Our search for an Italian marriage

The task of a lawyer during the proceedings in a case often becomes the search for evidence of affiliation. These connections can take various forms, such as friendships, business interests, and occasionally family relationships. Recently, we were approached by a client who is a prominent businessman from Voronezh, seeking our assistance in uncovering such affiliations. 

The business that he owned obtained a substantial loan, and both he and his business partner served as co-guarantors. However, there were insufficient available funds to repay the loan, and the business partner used his own personal funds to settle it. As a result, the business partner requested our client to reimburse him for these expenses. 

All would have been well, but it transpired that the funds had been taken out of the business and transferred to a company owned by the partner's supposed spouse, only to be borrowed from her at a later time. Actually, the company used its own funds to pay off its debt. 

The client insisted on being protected. Therefore, one of our objectives was to verify the connection between a business partner and that woman who is the company's owner. The client had received information suggesting that they were married under the law, so we began investigating this aspect. 

The inquiry made at the civil registration office proved to be fruitless, as no marriage records were found in Russia. The alternative of having a wedding abroad remained, especially since the injured businessman mentioned it. However, the question remains whether such a marriage would be considered legally valid in Russia. 

Irina Volodina, head of the labor law practice at the Tsentralny Okrug Law Firm, states that marriages conducted outside of Russia are acknowledged and accepted under the laws of the country where they were performed. No further procedures are necessary for this recognition. 

Clearly, our situation was not an exception, and now we needed to legally validate the existence of a marriage that was contracted abroad. As per the client, the wedding occurred in Rome, which also encompasses the city-state of the Vatican. The procedures for legalizing marriage documents in Russia vary depending on the location of the marriage. Therefore, if the marriage was conducted in Italy (a country that is a signatory to the Hague Convention), it would suffice for the Italian authorities to affix an “Apostille” stamp on the marriage documents in order to grant them legal validity. Once the marriage documents are approved, they will be considered legally valid in Russia. 

However, the situation is more complicated when it comes to the Vatican. Russia and the Vatican do not have any agreements regarding legal assistance and recognition of documents, except in the areas of arbitration and civil procedure. Therefore, in order for documents to be mutually recognized, they must undergo consular legalization. The duration of consular legalization is not specified, but there may be limitations on the validity period of the documents. 

To obtain consular legalization for a document issued by the authorized institutions of the Vatican, you must first request legalization from the State Secretariat of the Holy See. Then, you need to legalize the document at the Russian Embassy in the Vatican and have it translated into Russian (the translation can be authenticated at the Russian Embassy). Once these steps are completed, the document will be fully legalized and can be legally utilized in the Russian Federation. 

According to Irina Volodina, in order to obtain consular legalization, one must reach out to the consulate of the country where the document will be presented. In the case of Russia, this would be the Russian consulate. Additionally, the documents must have the necessary stamps from the departments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Ministry of Justice of the relevant state. 

Recognizing that the process of making requests and fulfilling legal requirements would be time-consuming, we anticipated a lengthy exchange of correspondence with international government authorities. However, before resorting to that, we decided to explore another option – we once again approached the registry office of the Voronezh region and requested information regarding the birth of the supposed shared child. Fortunately, luck was on our side: the parents of the child provided a marriage certificate registered in Rome in order to obtain the birth certificate. This evidence enabled our client to establish in court the connection between their business partner and the woman who is owner of the company.