The main provisions of the marriage contract, its pros and cons

In recent years, more and more people are using prenuptial agreements as a way to ensure they avoid problems in the future. For this reason, it is worth considering in detail a number of questions: why a marriage contract is needed; features and rules of its conclusion; what form is the marriage contract in? what to expect after signing it; What are the pros and cons of a prenuptial agreement?


Concluding a prenuptial agreement is a means to guarantee the avoidance of problems in the future

Features of a marriage contract

With the help of a contract, you can change the regime of joint ownership established by law, change the system of common or shared ownership, and also provide for other situations related to property relations in marriage.

In addition, the provisions of the document can determine the division of family income and regulate the maintenance of both spouses both during marriage and after it.

Its main points are:

  • Regime of ownership of property acquired during or before family life;
  • Rights and obligations of partners for mutual financial support;
  • The procedure and timing for changing provisions;
  • Conditions for termination of the agreement.

Its main features that characterize its status are the following:

  • It cannot regulate non-property relations;
  • It requires a written form certified by a notary;
  • It can be issued before and after marriage registration;
  • It can be terminated by agreement of both parties;
  • It is not subject to state registration.

Negative aspects of a marriage contract

A marriage contract, in addition to its positive features, also has negative aspects. They must be taken into account during planning, coordination and at the time of conclusion.

The first negative feature is the attitude of society towards such documents in our country. Discussion and detailed consideration of property relations in matters relating to love, family and personal relationships are considered unacceptable by many, characterizing the initiators as greedy, selfish and insincere people. Although in reality, it is the discussion of such issues, the willingness to compromise, the desire to make a common future understandable and transparent that indicate sincerity and openness.


The marriage contract cannot determine the order of child support in the event of divorce.

The next difficulty in concluding such contracts is the need to attract a notary and pay for his work. The legal illiteracy of the population and the reluctance to involve specialists in such matters discourage all citizens of the Russian Federation from realizing this useful right. A competent approach to concluding a marriage contract requires monetary costs, which many today are simply not ready for.

Everything changes in life, and over time, amendments to the family and civil legislation of the Russian Federation are possible, which will also affect marriage contracts. Such changes will lead to the need to revise already concluded agreements, which will entail problems and complications.

The marriage contract does not provide for the regulation of all aspects of complex family relationships. For example, such documents cannot determine the rights and responsibilities of minor children, or the procedure for maintaining a child in the event of a divorce. It is also strictly forbidden to specify in the document aspects of the personal relationships of the spouses.

Often, when drawing up marriage contracts, the parties are faced with the difficulty of accurately formulating specific provisions; no one is immune from errors or ambiguous interpretation of the contents. All this often becomes a big problem during divorce and division of property. Serious errors in the text may serve as grounds for declaring the entire document invalid.


Concluding a marriage contract requires a rational, objective attitude to this procedure

Psychologically, the presence of a marriage contract sets the parties up for a future breakup, which in some cases negatively affects the building of trusting relationships in the family. But in fact, concluding a marriage contract requires a rational, objective attitude to this procedure.

The possibility of regulating property relations through a marriage contract allows it to be used exclusively as a mechanism for resolving certain property issues. No one is immune from fraudulent, deceptive intentions, or pressure from outside.

The presence of a marriage contract cannot define and regulate relations in a civil marriage. The provisions of the document come into force only after the official registration of the relationship.

What conditions cannot be included in the contract?

The following provisions may not be included in the agreement:

  • Regulating personal relationships between husband and wife;
  • Reflecting the obligations of spouses and their rights in relation to joint children;
  • Limiting the capacity and legal capacity of each of the parents;
  • Prohibiting recourse to judicial authorities for termination, modification of a marriage contract or recognition of it as invalid;
  • Restrictions on the rights of the parties to conduct business, draw up wills, register inheritance property, and receive individual income.

How to draw up a marriage contract for spouses: step-by-step instructions

Most often, during a marriage, spouses draw up a prenuptial agreement for a mortgage apartment, which is provided to the bank at the initial stage when reviewing the documents. Typically, in a transaction with a lender, one party acts as a borrower, and the other as a co-borrower. If the couple wants to change this condition, this must be reflected in the contract.

A unified template is not established by law, but the document must necessarily contain the following information:
  • Who pays the down payment, indicating specific amounts or parts.
  • Who will make the monthly payments?
  • To whom and in what shares will the property be registered?
  • Will one spouse compensate the other for mortgage costs in the event of a divorce?
  • Possible changes to the terms of the contract upon the birth of children.
  • Who and in what parts bears the costs of housing maintenance and insurance.
When drawing up a marriage contract for an apartment, you should calculate the obligations of both parties in advance. Further actions look like this:
  • The spouses write a draft agreement, where they indicate the main criteria. Next they go to a notary, where a normal agreement is drawn up to be certified.
  • To take out a mortgage, the couple provides the necessary documents and a contract, which will state who undertakes the obligation to repay the loan.
  • The lender reviews the application and makes a decision.

The opportunity to take out a single mortgage for one spouse is only available to those who have a good income. Most banks impose a requirement that the monthly payment should not exceed 40-45% of the borrower's salary. If the criterion is not met, the lender has the right to refuse the loan.

Main advantages

An agreement between spouses has many advantages, which include the following circumstances:

  1. It can be drawn up before marriage, as well as after its registration on any day. Its presence will protect you from conflict situations and disputes during the division of property in the event of a divorce. In addition, the close relationships that accompany the creation of a married couple will make it possible to provide for the interests and rights of all parties without emotions.
  2. The agreement allows you to decide the ownership of property at different periods of the relationship: before the registration of a family union, during and after it. Owned personal property acquired before marriage will remain the individual property of the party to whom it belonged. The agreement can determine the fate of property acquired in family life or establish its share, indicating the size of the parts, or preserve common joint property.
  3. He can establish the ownership of things received as a gift. In order to avoid disagreements regarding gifts, it is better to stipulate their further nature and what will be due to whom in the event of separation.
  4. By concluding a contract, in the event of a divorce, there will be no disputes regarding the division of property. As a rule, it causes a lot of trouble, and the more acquired during the family union, the more fierce the struggle develops between the ex-husband and wife. And if you still can’t reach an agreement, you have to go to court and go through the unpleasant process of judicial division of your property. A formalized agreement allows you to avoid such torment.

For example, before a man got married, he started a company. During the period of family life, funds were withdrawn from the family budget and invested in the development of entrepreneurship. After the breakup of the marriage, the wife demanded part of the value of the business. In the process of litigation, a lot of money had to be spent on conducting assessments, analyzing documentation, and calculating income over time.

The concluded agreement would save the court disputes if it established what part of the property the wife could claim.

Here are a few more advantages:

  1. With the help of a contract, you can determine the financial capabilities of a married couple. For example, estimate cash receipts, determine responsibilities for their expenditure, plan large acquisitions and divide them. The document can specify any points that provide for the real state of the couple’s financial affairs.
  2. The agreement helps resolve the issue of debt obligations and loans. They are also subject to separation in the event of divorce. The contract can stipulate which of the parties owes the debts and who must fulfill them.
  3. The document may contain the distribution of family income and expenses. It helps organize the family budget and distribute income. This can be done in great detail, even including the purchase of groceries and payment of utilities.
  4. A marriage contract may establish the maintenance of a disabled or needy husband/wife in the event of separation. In addition to the legally established grounds for maintaining the second spouse, he can significantly increase the amount of financial assistance received, establish the amount and timing of receiving financial support.

When drawing up a legally correct and complete document, checking the legal capacity of the parties and notarizing a marriage contract, you can count on the transparency of contractual relations and the security of their regulation between the participants of a married couple.

Key terms

Main characteristic aspects of the agreement:

  • the form of the marriage contract is written;
  • according to the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation, the document is certified by a notary;
  • the content of the marriage contract concerns only property issues;
  • the agreement can be terminated at any time, but only if both parties do not object to it;
  • in accordance with the current regulations of the Russian Federation, registration is not required for the document;
  • You can make changes and add information to the marriage agreement, but after each such action it is necessary to have it certified by a notary.


To accurately formulate the content of the contract, it is recommended to contact a professional lawyer.
The parties can draw up the document independently, but in order to correctly and error-free formulate the content, it is strongly recommended to contact a professional lawyer. With its help, the procedure for concluding a marriage contract will be observed. To prepare copies of the contract, the following documents will be required: certificates and papers on property and income, marriage certificate (if the marriage has already been concluded), identification documents.

Undoubtedly, preparation of the contract by a lawyer and certification by a notary will cost money. This circumstance must be taken into account if you plan to enter into such an agreement. During the certification process, the notary must voice the main points contained in the document, explain the meaning of the provisions and their consequences. The notary is obliged to verify the voluntariness of the desire to enter into a contract by the parties; he must thoroughly check the contents of the marriage contract for compliance with the current norms of the legislation of the Russian Federation.

The presence of spouses (future spouses) during the procedure of certification of a document by a notary is mandatory. The conclusion of a marriage contract is carried out in the presence of a notary, who certifies the document. This action is an integral requirement and condition for obtaining the legal status of the agreement. The contract comes into force at the time of certification by a notary (if the marriage has already been formalized) or at the time of official registration of the relationship legitimizing the marriage.

Main disadvantages

In addition to the positive aspects, the document also has negative aspects. These include:

  1. Most residents of our country consider it selfish and indecent to discuss material matters on the eve of a wedding. Although signing obligations in relation to a friend indicates honesty and mutual understanding between family members, and not about false concepts of decency.
  2. Payment for notary services. Execution of an agreement, its termination or amendments to it requires notarization. Frequent visits to a specialist will entail considerable costs.
  3. Changes in regulations. Significant amendments may lead to changes in the drawn up contract or its termination altogether, since it may simply be invalid. There are known situations where, under such conditions, the document lost its relevance, and the separating spouses had to divide property in court.
  4. The difficulty of legislative regulation of family relations. When drawing up a contract, it is difficult to provide for all aspects of family life. Well, if you need additions to the marriage regulations, you will have to contact the notary’s office again.
  5. Controversial provisions of the contract. Points must be clearly worded to avoid double interpretation. Uncertainty may lead to litigation and disputes, as well as invalidation of the document. To avoid such situations, you should contact specialists who are highly qualified and experienced in resolving such cases to draft a legally competent and detailed text.
  6. The agreement regulates only property relations. When it is concluded, it is impossible to introduce provisions regulating other aspects of family life. For example, questions regarding the maintenance of children in the event of a divorce and the procedure for dividing property after the death of one of the parties are prohibited by law.

There is also a ban on describing the personal relationship between husband and wife. If such aspects are discovered, the agreement may be invalidated in whole or in part.

  1. Divorce is expected in advance. Psychologically, such a document sets up family members to separate, thereby undermining the power of attorney and destroying mutual understanding between them. When concluding it, each party tries to protect itself in the event of separation. But it is probably not very reasonable to expect that divorce is impossible. And taking care of protecting your interests in advance is much more advisable than living with disappointments and financial losses.
  2. Coercion to sign. There are no guarantees of transparency in the contracting process. Sometimes, even with the outward voluntariness of its execution, there is a possibility of manipulation or pressure from one party to the agreement or family members. This often concerns marriages registered by couples with unequal financial status.
  3. Acquisition of legal force. When an agreement is concluded before the start of family relations, it comes into legal force only from the moment of their registration.

How to Protect Personal Assets with a Prenuptial Agreement

A series of articles about methods and tools for protecting personal assets

In the last article, we figured out how to create an indivisible fund in which you can hide property from creditors, bailiffs, tax authorities and other hunters. This time we’ll look at how a prenuptial agreement (BA) can help protect personal property.

How it works? In the minds of many of our friends, it goes something like this: you are starting to be attracted to a subsidy; you take your spouse and run to the notary; he certifies the marriage contract, according to which the wife gets everything, and you become a newly made homeless person, to the chagrin of your creditors. “It’s logical: she still has children!” - you convince yourself in the evening, drinking whiskey from a crystal glass.

Is it that simple? And are creditors really that stupid and powerless? I will tell you about this below, but for now a disclaimer: we will analyze the database specifically in the context of protecting assets from creditors. If property needs to be protected from a spouse, the effect will be the opposite. By the way, we have recently already talked about what can happen to property when one of the spouses goes bankrupt - this is for a general understanding of the prospects.

What is this anyway?

By default, all property acquired during marriage is the joint property of the spouses. This rule applies to cars, apartments, dachas, businesses, shares, patents, other intellectual property and other tangible and intangible assets. They belong to the spouses in equal shares: each has half and it does not matter to whom it is registered.

An exception to the rule is inherited or gifted property. But if something was inherited by one of the spouses, and the other spouse spent money on maintaining this asset, for example, made major repairs to an apartment, he will be entitled to compensation for these expenses.

Actually, a marriage contract is one of many instruments that changes the property regime of spouses. With the help of a database, the proportion of shares can become not 50 to 50, as provided by law, but, for example, 10 to 90 or something else. For these purposes, you can also use an agreement on the division of property, a settlement agreement, or even divide everything through the court. Each tool has its own pros and cons, its own specifics and scope, but we will talk about this in the following articles.

What are the possibilities inside?

For the database we need Mikhail, his wife Marina and their assets: 1 house, 2 apartments, 3 cars and a wonderful business.

A marriage contract can regulate any property relations between spouses: not only how houses, cars and apartments will be divided, but also income, expenses and maintenance of spouses in the event of a divorce. For example, you can prescribe the payment of alimony or compensation for a share in a jointly purchased apartment. Sometimes this is extremely important.

A prenuptial agreement can be drawn up both before and during marriage. In the first case, the contract will come into force only after the marriage is registered.

An important nuance - if the spouses incurred any debt before signing the marriage contract, creditors must be notified about it. For example, if Marina took out a loan before marriage and still hasn’t paid it off, her bank should be aware. Otherwise, the bank will be able to challenge the database in part or in full. This is especially true if, within the framework of the database, the rights of the creditor are somehow infringed: for example, Marina promises to give 90% of her salary to her spouse for his personal use and then stops paying the loan.

With the help of the database, you can change the regime of joint ownership provided for by law - this is when everything is divided in half - and establish a regime of shared or separate ownership. In the case of separate ownership, the contract can indicate that “whoever earned what and bought what belongs to him.”

With shared ownership, you can indicate specific shares in the property, for example, that all property will belong to the spouses in a ratio of 70 to 30, or you can register a personal ratio of shares for each type of property.

You can also specify in the marriage contract who will own the property that will appear in the future. For example: all houses purchased in the future will belong to Marina, and cars will belong to Misha.

Price issue

The notary fee for certification of a marriage contract is 500 rubles (current as of the date of writing the article).

You can draw up a standard marriage contract yourself by downloading a sample on the Internet and adjusting it to your requirements. If a homemade database is drawn up in violation of the law, for example, it states that the wife takes the child to school or the husband watches football no more than once a month, the notary will not certify such an agreement. Or he will assure. And it will be invalidated later. It depends on your luck with the notary.

The cost of a well-developed marriage contract ranges from 5,000 rubles from the guys who will download it from the Internet for you, and up to $30,000 from lawyers from international law firms. It all depends on the amount of property and the experience of specialists: to competently draw up a document, you will need a good analysis of the property and financial situation of the spouses and knowledge of all the possibilities of the law to challenge such transactions (yes, a marriage contract is exactly the same transaction as the alienation of property under a contract purchase and sale). The price of the work, by the way, is indicated without taking into account third-party specialists: appraisers and notaries.

Grounds for challenge

To protect assets, a prenuptial agreement must be drawn up in such a way that no one will think that it was drawn up to hide property. Or at least so that it cannot be proven.

What’s good is that now it’s up to those whose rights are allegedly infringed to challenge the contract. Those. It is not Misha who needs to prove that he, without any intent, transferred everything to Marina, but on the contrary - to the creditor or arbitration manager (AM). In any case, to challenge the deal, the stars must converge on the following points:

  1. the transaction was concluded with the intent to harm the property rights of creditors;
  2. it has been proven that this same harm was caused;
  3. at the same time, the spouse was aware that the agreement was concluded with the aim of concealing property, and not out of great love.

We have a separate article on the procedure for challenging transactions in bankruptcy proceedings. In it we clearly showed which transactions, when and how can be challenged. Therefore, we will not dive into details now.

Here are the main hooks that people cling to when challenging a marriage contract:

The imaginary nature of the deal. This is a transaction that is made for show, while in fact no one fulfills its terms. For example, our guys got divorced, Marina, according to the database, received 2 apartments, 2 cars and a business, but in fact all this property is used by her ex-husband. To prove the sham of the transaction, the battle involves analyzing bank accounts, sources of payments for utility bills, surveillance, filming with a video camera, linking car parking fees to specific mobile phone numbers, etc. - in short, the entire arsenal of detective investigation. Similarly, transactions are contested when property is transferred under a power of attorney or purchase and sale agreement without the actual transfer of money.

Signs of insolvency. At the time of concluding the BD, neither spouse should have signs of insolvency. If we imagine that Mikhail, as part of the marriage contract, transferred the apartments, house and business to Marina, and kept only the car for himself, and after 2 months the court accepted the creditors’ statement about Misha’s bankruptcy, then the database can be challenged. The courts do not believe in such coincidences, and they are right to do so. I wouldn't believe it either.

Date of conclusion of the marriage contract. The situation when the couple were married for 20 years, then entered into a prenuptial agreement at the age of 21, and after some time Mikhail files for bankruptcy, arouses suspicion, to say the least. Let us remind you that in the general case, a bankruptcy agreement concluded 3 years before the court accepted the bankruptcy petition can be challenged, and in some cases transactions taken 10 years in advance can also be challenged. Example? Please!

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Duration of obligations. If debts arose before the signing of the marriage contract, they can be fulfilled both at the expense of the debtor and at the expense of the spouse’s property specified in the marriage contract. For example, what was copied to Marina as part of the database may be given away if Misha’s property turns out to be insufficient. Moreover, it is important to consider that if debts arose before the division of joint property, the agreement cannot infringe the rights of creditors. Including the signed agreement, you need to notify your future opponents.

Size of shares. In one of the recent bankruptcy cases, the AU requested that the database be declared invalid, because according to its terms, the value of the property that went to the wife was 13 (!) times higher than the price of the assets of her debtor spouse. This is about the fact that it won’t be possible to transfer all the property to Marina, so that Misha will then throw up his hands in front of the creditors, saying that there is nothing to take from him. Similar to the liquidity of assets: if Misha retains only shares in a business that has only debts, such a deal may also be challenged.

Reducing the bankruptcy estate. The transaction may be challenged if the terms of the BD lead to a reduction in the bankruptcy estate and cause harm to creditors. Example: Misha took out a loan on himself and paid it off himself, but with the money he received he bought an apartment and registered it entirely in Marina’s name. If they prove that the money went to the needs of the family, then the marriage contract will be invalidated, at least in part of this apartment.

How it happens in practice

Attempts to protect property with the help of a database and other agreements with a spouse are quite often covered with a copper basin. Here is one such example: Irina Trefilova was a member of the Iskra Avigaz company, including replacing the chief accountant and deputy. general director In March 2014, the company issued a loan for several million, for which Irina acted as a guarantor. And in April 2021, Irina entered into a prenuptial agreement with her husband, according to which 4 brick buildings, a garage, an underground parking lot, a plot of land, 3 apartments, one of which is 6-room, became the sole property of Oleg.

In February 2021, the court accepted an application to declare Iskra Avigaz bankrupt - since 2014, the company had accumulated hundreds of millions of debts, and payments came to naught. Considering that it was proven that Irina was the person controlling the debtor (KDL), and even acted as a guarantor for the loan, in April 2018 the creditors got to her. This is where her marriage contract surfaced, in which almost all the property was registered in the name of her husband. In this case, there were a whole bunch of grounds for challenging the database:

  • as the chief accountant, Irina knew about Iskra’s debts, which means that the database was concluded with the aim of hiding personal property from creditors;
  • the agreement was concluded less than 3 years before the court accepted the application for personal bankruptcy;
  • the spouses' shares were distributed disproportionately.

The arbitration court declared the database invalid. Attempts to challenge the decision led nowhere. All authorities agreed with the court's arguments, including the Supreme Court, which confirmed that the courts had every reason to challenge the database and restore the joint ownership regime.

As a result, the property was put up for auction. After everything is sold, the spouse will be given his legal 50% of the proceeds, and the rest will go to pay off creditors.

Statute of limitations

If we are already talking about challenging marriage contracts, then we cannot fail to mention one mega-important point: within what period can it be challenged?

Let's assume a very real situation: the spouses entered into a marriage contract while living in marriage. The husband, understanding in which country he was doing business, stipulated that in the event of a divorce, his wife would receive everything they had acquired together, while he would be left with a donut hole.

After 5 years, the businessman husband receives an application for a subsidy. He urgently gets divorced, triggering the mechanism of division of property. And soon creditors begin to bankrupt him as an individual. Question: is it possible to challenge a marriage contract? And return the property? Let me remind you: the prenuptial agreement was concluded when the business debts were not even visible on the horizon, and 5 years have passed since then.

Correct answer: yes.

To briefly summarize the judicial practice, the statute of limitations in such cases begins to run from the moment the spouse learned that he had lost the right to all jointly acquired property. And this moment coincides with the actual division of property, which began under the terms of the marriage contract only after the divorce.

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And so the financial manager, acting on behalf of the husband and in the interests of his creditors, calmly submits an application to invalidate the marriage contract as having created an extremely unfavorable property position in comparison with the wife. And the businessman runs with claims to the would-be lawyers who made him a “very high-quality” prenuptial agreement for as much as 10,000 rubles.

What is important to consider

Yes, protecting personal assets is not a textbook thing to open the night before an exam. Here it is important to understand family law, bankruptcy law, and general trends in the development of judicial practice. And then it becomes quite possible to do this. Here's what you should pay attention to:

A sign of insolvency or insufficient property. It is advisable to conclude any asset protection transactions before signs of insolvency appear for you or your business. If it so happens that difficulties are already visible on the horizon, there is no need to rush headlong into transferring everything to your spouse. In this case, it is important to analyze the value of existing assets and divide them between the spouses so that the terms of the prenuptial agreement are not in doubt.

Notification of creditors. It is important to notify creditors of the signed agreement. This must be done both regarding existing obligations and those arising in the future. In the future, it will be more difficult for the creditor to say that he does not agree with the terms of the database - he was warned. If he didn’t say anything then, let it not arise later.

Date of conclusion of the contract. The court has the right to invalidate a database compiled less than 3 years before the court accepted the bankruptcy petition. And in some cases, even 10 years. Moreover, there is now a practice that courts look differently at contracts concluded before marriage, after a couple of months or after several years. To have as few questions as possible, it is better to enter into a BD before marriage or immediately after registration. The earlier the contract is concluded, the higher its reliability in the eyes of the court.

Distribution of shares. Considering that creditors and insurance companies are fighting for justice, it will not be possible to transfer everything to the spouse, including both kidneys. More precisely, the court will invalidate such a transaction in one click. It is important to take into account that both spouses have property and no one’s interests are infringed. We cannot voice a universal ratio of shares that the court will not find fault with - each case is individual. But you can contact Igumnov Group, and we will analyze your assets and draw up an agreement individually for your situation.

conclusions

  1. Is it worth getting married at all...? :)
  2. It is advisable to conclude a prenuptial agreement before signs of insolvency arise;
  3. Both existing and future creditors must be notified of the conclusion of the DB;
  4. You should not transfer all property to one spouse;
  5. Spending 1-2% of the value of assets on their protection is normal. Don’t push yourself and hire normal professionals;
  6. If you nevertheless took the path of a prenuptial agreement, then it makes sense to immediately start its execution by dissolving the marriage;
  7. To be honest, we at Igumnov Group prefer other tools for protecting personal assets. We will talk about them in the following articles.

The information in the article is current as of the date of publication on our website igumnov.group.

To keep abreast of the latest trends in subsidiarity, bankruptcy and protection of personal assets, come and visit us.

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Igumnova Anna

senior partner of Igumnov Group,

asset preservation expert, litigation lawyer

Specialization: preparation and support of real estate and land transactions in the pre-bankruptcy period. Judicial protection of the interests of a bona fide purchaser. Organization and support of public auctions for the sale of the debtor’s property.

Who and when can conclude

Russian legislation establishes the possibility of concluding an agreement for couples who have registered their marriage in the civil registry office. It begins to operate after its notarization or from the date of registration of the marriage union.

Sometimes a family that does not plan to formalize their married life wants to draw up a contract. It will not have legal force. Analysis of judicial practice indicates that without official registration, such a document does not establish the regime of ownership and disposal of property.

A marriage contract is not the only document that regulates property relations after a divorce. Sometimes it is more expedient to enter into an agreement on the division of property.

Provisions on the marriage contract

Despite the fact that the institution of a marriage contract has been legislated in the Russian Federation for a long time, its practical application is not widespread. The reasons for this situation, first of all, are legal illiteracy, lack of information, and fear of introducing something new into life that has no precedents nearby.

A marriage contract (contract) is a written agreement, certified by a notary, that does not contradict the current legislation of the Russian Federation between two persons who have entered into or are planning to enter into an official marriage relationship.

The purpose of the document is to regulate and determine the nature, conditions and rules of property relations, the rights and obligations of the parties within the marriage, as well as to establish the possible consequences that will occur if the family ceases to exist. The concept of a marriage contract defines the main features of this institution that need to be considered.

In what cases is it advisable to conclude

It must be concluded if:

  • One of the spouses owns a business and he may suffer when dividing property;
  • There is a desire to provide decent support for children born in marriage;
  • There is no point in spending huge amounts of money on a qualified lawyer;
  • I would like to save my nerves during the divorce process;
  • One of the parties is supported financially by their spouse;
  • There is no confidence in the adequacy of the behavior of the other half;
  • The husband/wife has an excessive craving for financial values.

To summarize, I would like to note that a marriage contract is an effective tool for regulating material relationships in the family. It will benefit those spouses who want to preserve and increase their property and financial assets, for whom the costs of legal support and notary services are not significant compared to possible property losses due to family conflicts. This category includes persons conducting entrepreneurial activities or having significant assets in their possession.

But family members with average incomes can also take advantage of the contract, since its provisions can regulate the material components of married life

Advantages and disadvantages of a marriage contract briefly: table

Briefly, the pros and cons of a marriage contract can be summarized in the following table.

AdvantagesFlaws
1. Prevention of controversial situations due to the division of property acquired during the marriage or acquired before registration of marriage, if the spouses decided to divorce1. There is a strong opinion in society that the presence of a marriage contract indicates a lack of trust between spouses
2. Establishment of financial obligations of spouses in relation to their common children after divorce, to each other (if any of the adults loses their ability to work and needs material support from their ex-husband/wife)2. Since the list of property owned by the spouses is constantly changing, they will need to regularly adjust the text of the agreement, adding new features and nuances to it
3. The procedure for divorce in court will be significantly shortened and simplified, since the judge, when making his decision, is guided specifically by the text of the marital contract3. If any of the spouses, during their life together or after a divorce, “changes their mind” about fulfilling the financial obligations specified in the marriage contract, then they face corresponding liability
4. The opportunity to preserve their property for those wealthy people who are owners of expensive apartments, cars, profitable businesses, etc.
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