Author of the article: Anastasia Ivanova Last modified: January 2021 6170

Guardianship authorities help ensure that children left without parental care find a new family. It is for this purpose that the state provides a procedure for the adoption of orphans. There are situations when a romantic relationship develops between a foster parent and a ward. The question arises: is marriage possible between adoptive parents and an adopted child? From a moral point of view, such a union is allowed, since the lovers are not relatives to each other. However, the Family Code of the Russian Federation lists the reasons why such relationships will not be officially registered.

Conditions for registering marriages

The civil registry office is the body charged with registering family relationships between citizens of the Russian Federation. Before the wedding ceremony, the couple submits an application to formalize their union. At this stage, civil registry office employees carefully study the data of citizens in order to prevent marriage between certain categories of persons.

In Russia there is a ban on creating a family between the following citizens:

• Married to other people;
• Adoptive parents and adopted children;
• Incapacitated;
• Blood relatives.

When submitting an application to the registry office, most likely future spouses will be denied registration of the relationship. There are “loopholes” in Family Law that can be used to circumvent the ban on such marriages. It is worth noting that in addition to the reasons listed above, you need to remember the following:

• The decision to marry must be mutual and voluntary;
• The people in the couple have reached the age of majority and are legally capable.

There are good reasons why a union can be registered starting from the age of 16. For example, the basis for early marriage is the woman’s pregnancy.

When can the law be circumvented?

It will be impossible for an adoptive parent to marry an adopted child at the registry office as long as the adoption paper is valid. When it is annulled, two people become ordinary citizens of Russia without blood ties, and the ban on marriage no longer exists.

Important! It is impossible to dissolve a blood relationship, even if the parents are deprived of their rights, they remain financially obligated to their offspring until the latter are adopted. With adoption everything is simpler, it can be terminated and the only problem that remains is the ethical side of the matter.

There are no direct instructions in the RF IC according to which the adoption procedure can be declared invalid. Any incident can happen in the adoptive family, in which it will be impossible to maintain the previous legal and family relationships.

To become free from the responsibilities of an adoptive parent, you need to:

• file a lawsuit to terminate the document; only in court can the adoption be annulled;
• the presence of the POO is mandatory; a lawsuit can be initiated by them, and not necessarily by the adoptive parent;
• to declare that the desire to continue to fulfill the duties of a parent has dried up, the law cannot oblige the adoptive parent to be one, only voluntary consent.

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That is, the main principle of adoption is voluntariness. If it is not there, the court has no right to prevent the termination of the contract, especially if we are talking about an older child who has reached marriageable age.

There are no requirements to indicate in detail in the claim the reason for the annulment of the adoption agreement. However, in order not to focus on the absence of a reason, but rather on its presence - the desire to marry an adopted child, it is worth pointing out neutral points. They may be changes in financial situation, health, the emergence of conflict situations, etc.

For more detailed information, it is better to contact a lawyer personally who specializes in such cases. He will tell you how to conduct a court hearing with minimal moral losses for the adoptive parent and the adopted child.

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Why are marriages between adoptive parents and their wards prohibited?

In our country, adopted children, along with their own children, are considered relatives of their adoptive parents. After a guardian accepts someone else’s child into his own family and commits to the state to support and raise him, their relationship acquires the status of family. This connection is expressed in the following aspects:

• In the future, if the adopted child gives birth to children, they will be officially recognized as natural grandchildren to the adoptive parent;
• The law provides for the secrecy of adoption. When transferring a child to a foster family, his data in the documents is changed to those that could be in the case of a blood relationship with the guardians (last name, patronymic, registration). In addition, employees of the educational institution and other participants in the process sign a document on non-disclosure of the secrecy of adoption;
• Relationships between natural and adopted children are established as between blood relatives. The biological mother and father cannot legally communicate with their offspring under the care of other parents. Also, they do not know the new address of their adopted children;
• In the event of the death of one of the guardians, the adopted child will claim the inheritance. He is endowed with the same property rights as the blood relatives of the adoptive parent;
• Once adopted by a new family, the child will not be able to receive child support from his biological parents. Any connections, including responsibilities, between them are interrupted.

Expert commentary

Kamensky Yuri

Lawyer

Thus, the adopted child becomes a full member of the family, both legally and morally. Family law protects these relationships and equates them to blood ties. The listed facts explain why marriage between adoptive parents and adopted children is prohibited in the Russian Federation. Despite the fact that the child was not born to the guardians, according to the law he is a close relative to them.

There are cases when the guardian and ward try to deceive the registry office and conceal the fact of adoption. However, such behavior can lead to serious consequences. An illegally registered union will be dissolved, and citizens will be prosecuted.

Age restrictions in the adoption process

What should be the age difference between the adoptive parent and the adopted child?

According to Article 128 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation, there may be an age difference of 16 years or more between the adoptive parent and the adoptee.

However, this rule does not apply to only one case: if the child’s mother died, and the child himself remains with the biological father, who after some time marries for the second time.

In this case, the stepmother has the right to adopt this child even when the age difference between them is less than 16 years.

How to conclude a marriage between a guardian and an adopted person?

It has long been known that marriages between blood relatives are prohibited in most countries.
The basis for this was numerous studies and conclusions of doctors. It has been proven that children born from consanguineous parents are susceptible to serious diseases and various pathologies. In the case of marriages between guardians and adopted children, the prohibition is only formal. Such unions do not pose any threat to the future generation. Adoption is a reversible process; the law allows the dissolution of family ties between people.

Before canceling the procedure, you need to pay attention to the following features:

• Only the court makes a decision to relieve the guardian of the responsibilities for raising and maintaining the adopted child;
• Both the guardian and the adopted child (provided that he is over 18 years old) can file a claim to cancel the adoption;
• Both parties are invited to participate in the court hearing;
• The prosecutor participates in the judicial process as a person monitoring compliance with the law.

A citizen, by his own decision, adopts a child. Other people cannot influence his choice. Therefore, no one has the right to force him to be a foster parent. The guardian may apply to the court to cancel the adoption procedure.

The claim states the following grounds::

• Difficult financial situation due to which a person cannot support an adopted child;
• Poor relationship between guardian and ward;
• The cancellation of an adoption is a mutual decision between the two parties;
• The adoptive parent has health problems, is declared incompetent, or has received a disability.

Whatever the reason, the claims must be satisfied by the court. After the decision is made, all obligations between the guardian and the ward are severed.

The following persons can apply to court to cancel an adoption:

• Representative of the prosecutor's office;
• Guardianship officer;
• An adopted citizen who is 18 years old;
• Adoptive parent.

Expert commentary

Gorchakov Vladimir

Lawyer

Cancellation of the adoption procedure will allow the former guardian and ward to register the marriage.

Cancellation of adoption

Article 140 of the RF IC comes into force , indicating the possibility of canceling the adoption. However, it is worth understanding that the described procedure applies only to minor children. For citizens of the Russian Federation who have reached 18 years of age, different rules apply.

Cancellation Conditions

To annul an adoption, the court must be given compelling reasons. Article 141 of the RF IC establishes the following conditions allowing to initiate the cancellation procedure:

• the father and mother do not fulfill their obligations towards children established by current legislation;
• there is abuse of parental rights;
• cruel treatment of an adopted child was recorded;
• adoptive parents are addicted to drugs or alcohol.

However, along with the general conditions of cancellation, there is also the possibility of canceling the adoption due to the occurrence of other circumstances, prescribed in paragraph 2 of Article 141 of the RF IC . Most often, these include the inability to establish normal family relationships between parents and children. The desire to get married can also be included in a similar category, but there are no precedents in judicial practice yet.

Cancellation procedure

Article 140 of the RF IC defines the following procedure for annulment of adoption:

1. Mandatory initiation of legal proceedings. Only this authority can decide to annul the bond between the adopted person and the adoptive parents. If the biological father and mother of the child are currently alive, and they have not been deprived of parental rights in the past, then parental rights and responsibilities are restored in full, including property rights.
2. When considering the case, a prosecutor and a representative of the guardianship authorities must be present.

The adoption is considered canceled on the day the court renders the relevant verdict. In this case, the child loses the property and non-property rights that his status as an adopted child gave him. He will not be able to claim a share of the inheritance, as well as lifetime maintenance by the adoptive parents. Subsequently, the child is transferred to the upbringing of biological parents, and in their absence, or in the event of deprivation of rights to children, to the guardianship and trusteeship authorities.

At the same time, the issue of preserving the patronymic and surname remains under consideration by the court. If the child is already 10 years old, he has the right to make his own decision.

However, marriage between “former” parents and children is permitted from the moment the adoption is annulled. But it is worth remembering that such ties are registered only if the child has reached the age of majority, and in special circumstances defined in Article 13 of the RF IC and decrees of the authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation - 16 years.

If the child has reached the age of majority

The possibility of annulment on the previously stated grounds after the child reaches 18 years of age is lost, so from this age the child is recognized as fully capable and the legal meaning of adoption is lost. However, in some cases, for example, if it is necessary to inherit after biological parents or other blood relatives, as well as to marry an adoptive parent, cancellation is permitted.

It is important to obtain the consent of three parties to the process:

• adopted child;
• blood parents, if at the time of initiation of the procedure they are alive and capable;
• adoptive parents.

After the cancellation of adoption, marriage between persons previously considered parents and children is not prohibited.

Marriages between adopted children from different parents

Russian legislation prohibits registering marriages between blood brothers and sisters. However, there are times when a bond develops between adopted children from different biological parents. On the one hand, not being close relatives, such couples can create families, but by law they are considered relatives. Both citizens have a common surname and patronymic. In addition, they are entitled to the same rights in a foster family.

Despite the lack of blood relationship, a man and a woman will not be able to get married. To register a marriage, you will need to solve the problem of adoption. Adoptive parents must go to court to annul their relationship with one of the children.

It is important to follow all steps:

• Prepare and submit an application to the court to cancel the adoption of the child;
• Attend a court hearing, where the participants in the process will be guardianship officers, the prosecutor and adopted children;
• After a positive court decision, the former adopted child must restore his previous data (last name, first name and patronymic);
• Future spouses submit an application to the registry office to register the marriage.

Expert commentary

Kireev Maxim

Lawyer

The initiator of the process of canceling kinship can be either the guardian or the adopted child himself. The main condition is that the ward must be 18 years old at the time of filing the claim.

World practice

A ban on marriage between certain categories of citizens is in effect in many countries. The legal grounds are almost the same as in Russia, but there are differences:

• In countries professing Islam, polygamy is allowed. In our state, a family should consist only of a man and a woman. In Muslim states, a citizen is allowed to have up to 4 wives;
• Foreign citizens are prohibited from marrying blood relatives, including second cousins. In Russia, the ban does not apply to second cousins;
• Foreign states do not always limit the rights of citizens to marry between adoptive parents and adopted children. The reason for this loyalty is the lack of blood relationship between the people in the couple. In some countries, there is a certain authority that allows or prohibits marrying an adopted child;
• Almost all countries agree on the issue of marriage with an incapacitated citizen. Such unions are not registered due to human limitations. People often take advantage of the insanity of their other half for their own selfish purposes.

Commentary on Article 14 of the RF IC

The law also points out a number of circumstances that prevent marriage. In particular, it is not allowed to enter into a marriage between persons, at least one of whom is already in another registered marriage. Such a ban is based on the recognition of the principle of monogamy (monogamy), which, in turn, is a reflection of certain moral and religious views prevailing in our society

The Law refers only to registered marriage, therefore the state in actual marital relations is not taken into account

In accordance with Art. 26 of the Law on Civil Status Acts, persons entering into marriage are required to indicate in the marriage application whether they were previously in a registered marriage. The termination of a previous marriage must be confirmed by relevant documents (divorce certificate, death certificate of a spouse, court decision declaring the marriage invalid).

Marriages between close relatives are prohibited, which means relatives in a direct ascending and descending line (parents and children, grandparents, grandchildren), full and half-blooded (having a common father (half-blood) or mother (half-blood)) brothers and sisters. Half-siblings should be distinguished from half-siblings. Step brothers and sisters are children of spouses who had children from their first marriage and entered into a new marriage. One of them is a parent for the children, and the other is a stepfather or stepmother.

This prohibition is due to both moral considerations and concern for the offspring, since as a result of such marriages, incest occurs and defective children are born. In some countries, marriages with more distant relatives are also prohibited. So, in accordance with Art. 26 IC of Ukraine, unlike Russia, cousins ​​cannot be married to each other.

Marriages between adoptive parents and adopted children are prohibited. This prohibition is based on the fact that although in this case there is no consanguinity, in its legal consequences adoption is generally equated to consanguinity. Therefore, allowing marriage between the adoptive parent and the adopted child would be contrary to the rules of ethics.

An obstacle to marriage is the incapacity of one of the persons entering into marriage (incompetent is a citizen who, due to a mental disorder, cannot understand the meaning of his actions or manage them). The ban is based on the fact that such a citizen cannot fully demonstrate conscious will when entering into marriage. In addition, mental illnesses often run in families, which could adversely affect offspring.

According to Art. 27 of the Law on Acts of Civil Status, the head of the registry office may refuse state registration of a marriage if he has evidence confirming the presence of circumstances that impede marriage. In this case, persons who submitted an application for marriage are notified of the postponement of marriage registration. If information about such obstacles is not confirmed, marriage registration is carried out on a general basis.