Transnational Marriages in the North: Legal Issues of Russian Women

Hege Brækhus

doi:10.36368/njolas.v1i01-02.24

Abstract

This article is about the legal situation for the many women who immigrated to the northernmost county in Norway, Finnmark, from North-West of Russia after the fall of the Iron Curtain. Their way of immigration was mostly through marriage to Norwegian men. To be foreign and new in a country could be difficult. How is their legal situation as newcomers? The complexity of problems will increase if they get children, divorce or move from Norway to Russia or the other way. Which authorities are to decide for them and which country’s laws are to be applied? The article also covers the legal situation for children born in such marriages such as status, custody, support and child abduction, and the situation when one of the spouses dies.

Highlights

Choice of Spouses and Laws at the “Top of the World”Finnmark, the northernmost county in Norway, shares a border with Russia
This article is about the legal situation for the many women who immigrated to the northernmost county in Norway, Finnmark, from North-West of Russia after the fall of the Iron Curtain
To be foreign and new in a country could be difficult. How is their legal situation as newcomers? The complexity of problems will increase if they get children, divorce or move from Norway to Russia or the other way

Summary

Introduction

The northernmost county in Norway, shares a border with Russia. This border was strictly closed during the Cold War, but after the fall of the Iron Curtain in the early 1990s, it was opened to some extent, and those living in Finnmark became able to get in contact with their neighbors in the northwest of Russia. 136 Hege Brækhus Transnational marriages in the north: Legal issues of Russian women married to Norwegian men Norway to Russian women crossing the border allegedly to offer prostitution services in the sparsely populated areas of Finnmark This was more than these communities could bear, according to some newspapers (Flemmen 2009, 39). 138 Hege Brækhus Transnational marriages in the north: Legal issues of Russian women married to Norwegian men divorce, but encompasses children’s law more generally, included inheritance and succession rights. The main focus of this article is on the impact of family law on Russian women who have moved to Norway and married Norwegian men This begins with choice of law for determining the validity of marriages, and includes detailed consideration of rights and obligations pertaining to marriage, divorce, legal parental status, child custody, and inheritance or succession rights to matrimonial property

Validity and Economic Rights of Marriage

Bereavement and Spousal Inheritance

Gender Equal Policy Recommendations

Findings

Notes on contributor