In recent years, more and more couples have come to the conclusion that concluding a prenuptial agreement is a guarantee of a strong marriage. Indeed, in this case, people marry precisely for love, since in the event of a divorce, everyone knows that in material terms the situation will not change much. And although for some people a prenuptial agreement still implies mistrust between spouses, stubborn statistics show that couples who have entered into such a contract live longer in marriage than those who let everything take its course.
According to the UK, all property of spouses acquired during marriage is considered common. This rule is enshrined in Art. 34 IC of Russia. In jurisprudence, this is called the legal regime of property, but there is another regime where you can change the usual order.
An entire chapter of the marriage contract is devoted to the contractual regime, and it is this document that regulates all relationships between spouses on the issue of a marriage contract
Marriage agreement on separate property - its contents
A prenuptial agreement regulates only issues related to the property of the parties.
In Art. 42 of the Insurance Code clearly defines what can be settled with the help of this contract. According to clause 1, it is determined that it is possible to make a certain property regime:
- Share
- Separated
- Joint
It is important to note that different regimes can be assigned to each type of property. For example, fix separate ownership of cars and shared ownership of real estate that they are going to purchase.
The content of the agreement can only relate to issues of property and in no way should contradict the insurance contract. It is prohibited to enter items:
- Limiting the legal capacity of any of the spouses
- Prohibition of protection in court
- About interpersonal relationships not only between spouses, but also with other relatives
- It is prohibited to limit rights due to disability. spouse
When is it necessary to establish separate ownership?
Practice shows that the need to establish separate ownership may arise in the following situations:
- there is a financial misalliance in the couple, and the more successful spouse wants to protect his property from possible attacks by the other party;
- one of the couple understands that they are soon threatened with divorce, so they plan in advance to protect their personal property from the procedure for dividing it in court;
- there was a need to protect property from confiscation in the event of an unsuccessful transaction or violation of the legislation of the Russian Federation;
- The entrepreneurial spouse wants to save himself from the need to constantly obtain notarized consent of the other party for the sale, purchase of property, renting it out, etc.
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How to draw up a marriage contract when buying an apartment, a real estate contract
If a prenuptial agreement was not concluded before purchasing the apartment, then it’s time to take this step. Before buying an apartment, it is necessary to clearly discuss how this property will belong to the spouses.
If this is a shared apartment, then you can do without an agreement, since, like everything acquired during marriage, the apartment will be considered jointly acquired property and the division will have to be carried out either by agreement or through the court. If you intend to divide the property, you will have to draw up a marriage contract for real estate
When concluding a contract, you can determine that:
- The apartment belongs to the spouses in shares.
- The apartment belongs to a specific spouse.
- The apartment belongs to the person to whom it is registered after state registration.
If an apartment is purchased with a mortgage, then it is reasonable to determine in the contract how mortgage payments will be made.
Grounds for termination of a marriage contract
Domestic legislation establishes the following list of grounds under which a marriage contract will cease to be valid:
- the document has expired;
- the spouses divorced;
- the spouses terminated the agreement at their own request;
- one of the couple died;
- the document was declared invalid by the interested party in court.
An interested party can challenge a marriage contract if, on the date of signing the contract, she did not realize the consequences of her actions due to an insane state (for example, due to health) or did not know what document she was signing on.
In exceptional situations, a third party can also initiate a challenge to the document - for example, the mother of the spouse argues in court that her child was in a state of insanity on the date of signing the agreement. The plaintiff must have documents proving this fact.
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Is it possible to draw up a marriage contract after purchasing an apartment?
As a general rule, an apartment acquired during marriage will be considered as jointly acquired property. However, there are some circumstances when the role of one spouse in purchasing housing is minimal. In this case, it is reasonable for those getting married to conclude a marriage contract and determine the ownership regime for this apartment and for any other property.
It is also possible that the future spouses took out a mortgage on the property, but it was registered in the name of only one of them. If a mortgage agreement was concluded before marriage, then formally this property does not fall into the list of jointly acquired property, since the marriage was not concluded. In this case, the only option for dividing the apartment, which was paid for by the future spouses actually living together, is a marriage contract defining the regime of the apartment.
It is important to understand that the law allows the conclusion of an agreement where the subject will be both specific property and everything that was acquired during the marriage.
Marriage agreement (contract), sample, form
There are two parties to a marriage contract, and in this it is not much different from most civil contracts. The only clear condition that the legislator sets is that the relations governed by the contract arise after marriage. It doesn’t matter whether it was a contract filled out during the marriage or whether it was drawn up in advance. Both documents will become valid only after marriage.
On the Internet you can see a photo of what a marriage contract looks like. Or you can review such a document at a notary’s appointment.
A sample form 2021 can be viewed at the link.
Standard marriage contract
A standard marriage contract contains the following parts:
- parties to the contract - spouses or future spouses;
- subject of the agreement – property, the regime of which is determined by the agreement;
- procedure for change and termination;
- liability of the parties;
- requisites.
Marriage agreement template
There is nothing complicated in drafting, but it requires certification from a notary. However, before visiting him, you should draw up a sample contract yourself and prepare all the documents confirming the ownership of the property that will appear in the contract.
If at the time of concluding the contract everyone has property that belongs to them personally and they want to fix it in the contract, then in this case it will not fall into the division during a divorce.
Prenuptial agreement before marriage
According to the legislation of the Russian Federation, it is permissible to conclude an agreement before the office. marriage registration. But there is a clear rule, since this contract regulates only the relationship between the spouses, it will begin to take effect when the marriage is concluded. According to Art. 10 of the RF IC, marriage only in the registry office.
The text notes that the agreement will come into force only after registration. If a decision was made not to marry, then this agreement will not be considered valid.
A ready-made prenuptial agreement template for marriage can be found here.
Prenuptial agreement after marriage
At any time, spouses can decide to change the property regime. By mutual agreement, they determine what property will belong to one or another spouse. It is also possible to allocate shares in property, and it is not necessary that these shares be equal.
An example of a marriage agreement on the separate ownership of property can be
Marriage agreement on separate property of spouses, sample
Since many different things are acquired during a marriage, it is quite problematic to clearly indicate who owns this or that property. The most reasonable way is to establish in the contract the rule that whoever the property is registered in is the one who gets it.
The second way is to enter into additional agreements, but since the agreement requires registration with a notary, this will entail new costs.
A standard sample contract can be viewed at this link.
Marriage agreement for property acquired during marriage
As a general rule, all property that was purchased after marriage, with rare exceptions, belongs equally to both spouses. But situations often arise when it is necessary to clearly divide who owns what. In this case, it is enough to conclude an agreement in which it is possible to determine what of the available property will go to one of the spouses and what to the other.
You can either list all valuable things or introduce a general rule that the thing belongs to the person indicated by its owner.
Form of a completed contract.
Marriage agreement, shared ownership, sample
As mentioned above, shares in property can be identified in a marriage contract. In this case, during division, as a rule, no controversial situations arise. When allocating a share in indivisible property, the other party can always count on a compensation payment.
Shares can be allocated in any property, be it a car, house, apartment or securities.
Sample marriage contract sample.
Marriage agreement separate property rights, sample
When changing the ownership regime to separate, you can establish the rule that whoever is indicated as the owner according to the documents will receive this property upon division. However, this is only possible with large things, such as an apartment, car, etc.
It is almost impossible to specify in the contract who will get one of the three sets or televisions, since many such things appear during a marriage. In this case, it is wise to use mix. property regime, dividing what is necessary and dividing the rest in half. If one has a special penchant for game consoles and TV, then this must be stated in the contract.
Separately, it is worth getting ahead of the regime of luxury goods: furs, jewelry and other things that, according to the rule, are not considered the property of the owner if they appeared during marriage.
The procedure for registering a marriage contract in 2021
It’s worth noting right away that, unlike the agreements we analyzed earlier (for example, gift agreements), in 2021, in addition to the correct execution of the marriage agreement, the document must be certified by a notary! To do this, future spouses can use one of the following conclusion options:
- personal visit to a notary’s office with subsequent preparation and execution;
- drawing up an agreement with the help of a lawyer and having the completed project certified by a notary;
- independent drawing up of an agreement by the spouses and its subsequent certification in the office.
However, when drawing up a marriage contract yourself, remember that its content and certification procedure are strictly regulated by the current legislation of the Russian Federation. Consequently, ignoring the established norms will entail the invalidity of the agreement!
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Conditions of a marriage contract examples
As you can see, any property can be reflected in the marriage contract. questions that may arise not only upon divorce, but also during family life.
For example, young spouses do not have housing and the wife’s parents are ready to buy them an apartment and contribute part of the money (1/2). Each young person also contributes ¼ of the required amount. Since the apartment will be purchased during marriage, and if the wife is registered as the owner, it will be recognized as joint property and in the event of a divorce, the spouse will have the right to claim half the apartment. Parents do not agree to such conditions. To avoid this, it is enough to conclude a marriage contract and reflect the shared ownership of the apartment. In this case, during a divorce, the husband will be able to claim only his part.
Also, a condition of the contract may be the obligation of one of the couple to provide payment for the child’s education after the divorce.
Before marriage, one has living space. You can always conclude an obligation for your spouse to leave someone else’s living space within a certain time.
There are many examples, since the family life of each couple is unique and it is impossible to predict what will happen after a couple of years of marriage. But in any case, a prenuptial agreement is a reliable guarantee that after a divorce the interests of both will be respected.
Dates for entry into force of the marriage contract and its termination
If a marriage contract is concluded during marriage (that is, if the parties to the contract have officially registered family relationships), its provisions come into effect immediately after the agreement is signed by the husband and wife, as well as after the document is certified by a notary.
If the agreement is concluded before the parties enter into an official marriage, then its terms come into force only after the marriage is registered. Moreover, if the engagement is dissolved and the marriage does not take place, the legal relationship from the previously concluded agreement will not be formed, and the agreement itself will be considered invalid.
In 2021, a marriage contract may be terminated in the following cases:
- divorce;
- the parties reaching mutual agreement to terminate the terms of the marriage contract (in this case, after termination of the agreement, the property of the husband and wife will change its regime);
- upon the expiration date of the contract, if such a period was established by the parties when drawing it up.
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However, since for the most part the clauses of the agreement most often relate to issues of division of property, the list of these obligations will have legal force even after the divorce process.
Also, it is worth noting that in the Russian Federation, unilateral termination of a marriage contract is prohibited! Simply put, a party who believes that as a result of signing such a document, its rights were violated has the legal right to apply to the judicial authorities with a corresponding statement of claim.
