Pravo.ru analyses the judgement of the Supreme Court in a case on the division of company shares during a divorce: what rules should be followed, corporate or family law? The article contains comments by Daryana Epikhina, Senior Associate at Petrol Chilikov:

Daryana Epikhina, senior associate at Petrol Chilikov, points out that most courts distinguish between property rights to a share in the authorised capital and corporate rights arising from the status of a company’s member. According to her, there is a position at the highest court level that the transfer of a share after divorce in and of itself does not automatically result in the acquisition of the status of a company’s member (case No. A55-31820/2017). This division into property and corporate components is explained by the fact that the matters related to acquiring and using the status of a company’s member are governed by corporate law, Epikhina said.

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In the case No. A79-3015/2019, the Supreme Court refused to refer the dispute to the panel precisely because the company’s articles of association did not contain any provisions prohibiting the assignment of shares to a third party or requiring the consent for persons to be admitted as members. Epikhina continues that, following this logic, if there is such a prohibition in the articles of association, the spouse who received an equity interest after the divorce would have to obtain approval from the members to join the company. 

Read the full article here.