Due to the full-scale invasion and martial law, some courts in Ukraine have lost the ability to administer justice on their territory. To ensure that citizens are not left without access to court, the Supreme Court has changed the territorial jurisdiction of such courts - cases have been transferred to courts in other cities and regions, where justice is administered without hindrance.

For a lawyer and a participant in the process, this has direct practical significance: a lawsuit, complaint, or other procedural document should be filed not with a court that is actually not working, but with one that has jurisdiction. An error in choosing a court leads to the return of documents and loss of time, and sometimes even procedural deadlines.

The 2020 administrative-territorial reform merged hundreds of districts in Ukraine into much smaller, consolidated districts. It would be logical to expect that all courts would immediately receive new names in accordance with the new boundaries. In practice, this did not happen: some courts are still officially named after the old, “pre-reform” district, although the territory they serve has long since changed. We have already written, Why are the names of courts in Ukraine changing? In principle, in this material we will analyze in more detail why some courts still retain their old names and how this affects the processing of documents.

Why some courts still have old district names

The discrepancy between the administrative map and the names of the courts is not a mistake of a single court, but a consequence of the fact that the judicial reform and the administrative-territorial reform proceeded at different paces and according to different procedures.

How to check if your court still has the old district name

There is no universal public register of “which courts have not yet been renamed” — so the check always comes down to comparing several sources. We have already examined in detail, why data about the court in the EUITS may differ from the real one, and the same logic applies to titles: digital services are updated with a delay, so it's worth checking several sources at once.

• Official portal "Judicial Authority of Ukraine". The most up-to-date source of current court names and their territorial jurisdiction.
• The latest court decisions in the Unified State Register of Court Decisions. They show the name under which the court appears in the newly adopted documents.
• Call the court office. The quickest way to clarify the current name if sources on the Internet contradict each other.
• Consultation with a lawyer who works in this region. A practicing specialist is usually aware of such nuances even before official clarifications appear.

If the name of the court has not changed, but the territory it serves raises doubts, it is no longer a question of name, but of jurisdiction. We are conducting a separate current list of changes in court jurisdiction, which collects recent legislative changes regarding which court now hears cases in a particular territory.

An error in the name of the court has the same consequences that we wrote about in the article about preparation of documents for a lawyer: an inaccuracy in a procedural document means the return of the claim and loss of time. Therefore, checking the name of the court is as much a mandatory preparation step as collecting evidence or calculating the court fee.

The discrepancy between the administrative map and the names of the courts is unlikely to disappear anytime soon - the reform of the court network is ongoing gradually. Until this process is completed, the only reliable way to avoid errors is to check the current name of the court immediately before each submission of documents, rather than relying on memory or an old folder with templates.

A client who last went to court several years ago is often genuinely surprised: the court with the name he remembers no longer exists. Not because the case was transferred to another city, but because the court itself was renamed, merged with another, or its territorial jurisdiction changed. For a person who encounters this once in a lifetime, such confusion seems strange. For a lawyer, it is a routine part of his job to check the current name of the court before it is included in the statement of claim.

Why did the names of courts in Ukraine change?

Changing the names of courts is not an isolated incident, but the result of several successive processes that took place at different times and for different reasons.

Why the exact name of the court is critical for a claim

A statement of claim is a procedural document with clear requirements for details, and the name of the court to which the claim is filed is among them. The error here is not always a technical detail:

• The lawsuit may be dismissed. If the name of the court is indicated incorrectly or does not correspond to the current jurisdiction, the court returns the statement of claim or leaves it without motion until the deficiencies are eliminated.
• Time is lost for corrections. Each return of a document means a new cycle of preparation, which is especially critical when the procedural deadline approaches.
• Possible confusion with court correspondence. If the court name is outdated, notices and summonses may arrive with a delay due to transfers between institutions.

How to check the current name and jurisdiction of the court

Before submitting documents, it is worth checking not only the name of the court, but also whether it will consider a specific case.

• Official portal "Judicial Authority of Ukraine". An up-to-date list of courts with current names and jurisdictional territories is maintained here.
• Unified State Register of Court Decisions. Allows you to check under what name the court appears in recently issued decisions.
• Call the court office. The quickest way to find out whether this court accepts claims is at the defendant's address or at the place where the dispute arose.
• Consultation with a lawyer who regularly works in this region. A practitioner is usually aware of recent changes before they are widely reported.

Confusion with old and new court names is a typical situation for a client who does not go to court often. The lawyer undertakes this check precisely because the cost of an error in the court name is not a formality, but the time lost in resubmitting documents.