Lawyers in Dostoevsky's lawsuits

The article for the first time gives a detailed description of the activities of lawyers who participated in the “Kumanin process”. The analysis of letters and documents drawn up by the chief attorney of the writer in the case of “Kumanin inheritance” B. B. Polyakov and his bailsmen confirms that in some cases the lawyer dodged his responsibilities and cared only about his own benefit, delaying the division and sale of the writer’s land property. During the work with archival sources we have managed to deduce what lands were included in the Ryazan estate, as well as which part of the estate accrued to Dostoevsky. From the correspondence with Polyakov it got about that the writer did not manage to take the property over the land. One of the reasons for this was the unfair behavior of lawyers, which led to the failure of the “Kumanin case” and a split-up of the successors.