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The article is devoted to the study of the peculiarities of the appointment of handwriting examination in civil proceedings based on the analysis of court practice. The scientific work describes the procedure for appointing handwriting expertise in civil proceedings. The role of handwriting examination in establishing the truth in the case is determined. The authors indicate that the analysis of court practice gives grounds for asserting that, for the most part, courts take into account the expert's decision based on the results of the handwriting examination as a means of proof and consider it a valid piece of evidence in the case. It is noted that the expert's decision, like any other evidence, may be questionable or even incorrect for various reasons, in particular, the expert may be presented with incorrect initial data or invalid objects. Attention is focused on the role of the judge in the process of preparing for the examination, in particular, the collection of materials for expert research, the judicial practice regarding the consideration of cases in which a handwriting examination was appointed and evaluated by the court, including court decisions in civil cases, decisions on appointment is analyzed expertise, decisions of appeal courts, as well as the Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights. Based on the results of the analysis of court practice, the authors made conclusions, including: 1) an expert's decision is evidence in a civil trial; 2) the court must provide a well-founded motivation for rejecting the expert's decision in the case of failure to provide its assessment, because it is not enough in the decision to indicate certain doubts about the reliability or correctness of the expert's decision, without noting at the same time reasonable grounds for such doubts; 3) the courts take into account the expert's decision based on the results of the handwriting examination as a means of proof and consider it a valid evidence in the case, but there are exceptions; 4) the court decision on the appointment of an expert must necessarily specify the questions that are put to the expert for research; 5) the party in the case has the right to object to the handwriting examination; 6) there are cases of the impossibility of conducting a handwriting examination at the stage of its conduct due to non-payment of experts' services; 7) the most common civil cases, within the scope of which an expert's decision is evaluated as a means of proof, are cases of invalidating a will, collection of funds under a loan agreement and receipt, invalidation of land lease agreements, etc.

The article is devoted to the analysis of regulatory and legal aspects regarding the conduct and appointment of handwriting expertise in civil proceedings. It is noted that the legal nature of the handwriting examination presupposes the availability of special knowledge in the field of science, which allows with a very high percentage of accuracy to establish or disprove facts that are important in the consideration of a case and the resolution of a civil dispute. Handwriting expertise is important for both sides of the litigation. It was determined that the study of writing and handwriting has gone a long way in its development and the method of conducting handwriting research is constantly being improved. The concept of handwriting examination is characterized in the scientific work. The concept of “legal expert”, “civil litigation expert”, “judicial expert” was studied. Attention was drawn to the absence in the civil procedural legislation of Ukraine of a clear and detailed regulation of the concept, legal nature, procedure for collecting materials and direct forensic examination. The main legislative scientific-methodological recommendations on the preparation and appointment of handwriting examination have been analyzed. Emphasis was placed on the study of copies of handwritten records and signatures obtained by electronic means and electronic photographic means. The legal aspects of the assessment of the expert's decision based on the results of the court's handwriting examination have been studied. The role of handwriting research in the process of law enforcement is determined. Handwriting research is defined as one of the most effective means of proof. It was concluded that the expert's decision is a valid piece of evidence in the case, however, its content should be carefully checked and studied by the court, and the assessment should be carried out in combination with all the circumstances of the case. Problematic aspects of the researched area are formulated. Attention is focused on the lack of a proper mechanism of legal regulation in civil procedural legislation regarding a clear algorithm of court actions during the appointment of expertise, especially in the aspect of collecting material for expert research. Proposals have been made to improve the legislation regarding the procedure for collecting samples for handwriting examination and the direct participation of a judge in this process.