According to Art. 17 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation a husband is not entitled to initiate divorce proceedings during his wife's pregnancy and during the first year of their child's life unless he’s got wife's consent. This issue is also mentioned in Resolution № 15 "Application of laws in consideration of divorce cases" adopted by the Plenum of the Supreme Court on November 05, 1998. The first clause of the Resolution provides for the following: while noting divorce claims the courts shall take into account the fact that according to Art. 17 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation a husband is not entitled to initiate divorce proceedings during his wife's pregnancy and during the first year of their child's life without wife's consent. In case wife's consent is not obtained the court shall withhold noting divorce claims and in case such claims have been noted the court shall terminate the proceedings. The mentioned is not a preclusion to filing a divorce claim again in case the circumstances mentioned in Art. 17 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation ceased.

A divorce claim filed by a wife can be adjudicated irrespective of child's age. In case the husband disagrees the court is entitled to establish a reconciliation term not exceeding 3 months according to Art. 22 part 2 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation.