Court decision declaring marriage invalid

It is generally accepted that people enter into marriage solely for love, with the goal of creating a family. This is also evidenced by the Family Code, which clearly states the conditions under which a family is created. However, there are exceptions to every rule, and there are often cases when spouses are deceived, get married or get married under duress, or marry in order to obtain a certain benefit. In such cases, the marriage may be declared invalid by the court. We will tell you how and on what basis this happens, we will provide information on a fictitious marriage and its annulment.

Who can challenge a marriage

Judicial practice is not clear, however, in the family code, the heirs of the deceased are not listed as persons who have the right to file a claim in court to challenge a marriage , which raises the question of what to do? As one of the options, you can write a corresponding complaint to the prosecutor's office , which has the right to go to court with a claim to declare the marriage invalid in defense of your interests. However, you must provide credible evidence that the marriage was entered into in violation of family law.

It could be being in another marriage.
If the marriage of close relatives,
Marriage between adopted children and adoptive parents,
The person has been declared incompetent (due to a mental disorder) and this has been established by the court.
The fictitiousness of marriage,
The marriage was concluded under threats and under the influence of deception.

If your complaint is satisfied, the prosecutor's office will file a claim in court, where it will act independently and prove the invalidity of the marriage. However, the prosecutor's office may not find violations and not file a lawsuit, what to do in this case?

Court decision declaring marriage invalid

The client contacted PJS LLC to object to the declaration of marriage as invalid.
The client's interests were represented by Marina Olegovna Kleymenova.
The court made a decision that was positive for our side and the claim was left unsatisfied.

DECISION
IN THE NAME OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

November 3, 2021

Anapa City Court of the Krasnodar Territory composed of: presiding officer Karpenko O.N., with secretary Sulimenko D.V., with the participation of the representative of the Plaintiff, FULL NAME1, acting on the basis of a power of attorney, the representative of the Defendant, FULL NAME2, acting on the basis of a power of attorney. Having considered in open court a civil case based on a statement of claim by Full Name 1 to Full Name 2 for declaring the marriage invalid, he established:

FULL NAME1 filed a lawsuit against FULL NAME 2 to declare the marriage invalid. In support of the claims, he indicates that the marriage of Full Name 1 and Full Name 2 was concluded on DATE. The marriage is registered in the registry office of the city of New Athos of the Republic of Abkhazia, record of the marriage certificate No. dated DATE.

After the wedding, the defendant often left due to work and long business trips (according to his words). ON DATE, the Defendant was called up for military service in the army. SINCE THE DATE, the Defendant repeatedly came to the Plaintiff, they maintained a relationship, he brought money, and ran a joint household. In 1985, the Defendant did not come home for a long time. DATE the plaintiff entered into a second marriage with FULL NAME3. After that, she saw the Defendant several times, he transferred money for housekeeping, spent his free time with her and left, citing business trips through the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Defendant did not say anything about her second marriage and she did not say that she was married for the second time. From the GIS “Justice”, based on the materials of the case No. of the city court in DATE, the Plaintiff learned that the Defendant with DATE is married to FULL NAME3. As a result of registering a second marriage without dissolving the first, the Plaintiff experiences significant moral suffering and worries about the fate of her family and herself in old age. In this connection, the court asks the court to recognize the marriage registered DATE by the Civil Registry Office of the Main Directorate of the Civil Registry Office of the Moscow Region (registration entry No.) between Full Name 2 and Full Name 4, invalid.

At the court hearing, the representative of the Plaintiff, FULL NAME1, supported the stated demands and asked to satisfy them.

The Plaintiff did not appear at this court hearing; she previously explained that she met the Defendant a year before their wedding. FULL NAME2 and I did not live together, since he often left, their meetings were sporadic, but he always provided her with financial support. Believes that their relationship was based on love. During his long absence, she married FULL NAME3, with whom she has three children. In 1992, I learned about the wedding of FULL NAME2 and FULL NAME4, about his three children in this marriage. There was a war in Abkhazia, and only after the war in 1997, she went to Moscow, where they resumed short-term meetings and lived in an apartment. At the same time, the Plaintiff explained that at that time she knew that Full Name 2 continued to be in a registered marriage with Full Name 4.

The defendant, FULL NAME2, did not appear at this court hearing; previously he recognized the claims in full.

The representative of the defendant, FULL NAME1, explained at the court hearing that FULL NAME1 and FULL NAME1, registering their marriage in the registry office of the village of New Athos, Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic at the end of the DATE of the year, had as their goal the creation of a family by mutual consent on the basis of love and the principle of voluntariness, and came to this important point consciously in life, being adults and capable persons. These persons did not have any other goals related to obtaining material or other benefits. Their living together (albeit periodically), running a joint household was not permanent and generally accepted only due to the intervention of force majeure circumstances (lack of proper and necessary material well-being, national characteristics and traditions of the Abkhaz family, full name, negative attitude of close relatives of the spouses, including including parents to create an interethnic family, etc. These circumstances are confirmed by relevant documents and testimony.In this connection, based on the norms of Article 27 of the RF IC, the court asks the court to satisfy the claim of Full Name1 to recognize the marriage between Full Name and Full Name as invalid.

A third party without independent claims regarding the subject of the dispute, full name and its representative Kleimenova M.O. did not appear at this court hearing, previously objected to the satisfaction of the stated requirements, citing the fact that as a result of the registration of marriage between Full Name and Full Name, a family was created, three sons were born, in the period before the DATE, Full Name and Full Name lived together, ran a common household, common business, raised and educated children and grandchildren. Thus, even if a marriage was registered between the Plaintiff and the Defendant, it was registered without the intention of starting a family, and therefore, according to Art. 15 of the USSR Law must be recognized as fictitious (without the intention of starting a family). The Plaintiff has not confirmed the fact of running a joint household with the Defendant. Meanwhile, on DATE, the Defendant began courting Full Name, on DATE, Full Name accompanied the Defendant to the army, and after his return to DATE, Full Name and Full Name registered the marriage, which is confirmed by the Marriage Registration Certificate, Record of Marriage Registration Certificate No. In addition, the DATE his first son was born - full name, which is confirmed by the Birth Certificate. On DATE, FIO’s family went to North Korea on a business trip, while when crossing the border of the USSR and North Korea, a full check of persons crossing the border was carried out, and therefore the presence of a second marriage (which allegedly was with FIO) would not allow FIO to go to North Korea, however, the presence of any marriage was not revealed. The fact of travel to North Korea is confirmed by a copy of the Employment Book, full name, indicating the place of work in North Korea, and a Certificate of Training, full name, at an educational institution in North Korea. On DATE, the family of Full Name returned from North Korea to the USSR, while Full Name was pregnant at that moment and on DATE the second son of Full Name and Full Name was born, which is confirmed by the Birth Certificate. Subsequently, a third son was born, which is confirmed by the Birth Certificate. It should be noted that the Defendant is a native of the city of Mytishchi, Moscow Region, and the Plaintiff is a native of Sukhumi, Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic; at the time of the alleged marriage between them, the Plaintiff was 22 years old, the Defendant was 19 years old, and in itself it is absurd that a 19-year-old boy from Moscow region, he came to the city of New Athos, Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, specifically to register his marriage with the Plaintiff and, as the Plaintiff points out, he went on business trips, and later periodically came to her and brought money. At the same time, the Plaintiff did not change her maiden name to the Defendant’s last name. However, if the Plaintiff and the Defendant for registering the marriage had the goal of creating a family, then the Defendant would move to live with the Plaintiff and change the registration address (or vice versa) and permanently reside with the Plaintiff, however, as the Plaintiff herself indicates in the claim, the relationship between the Plaintiff and the Defendant had occasional meetings that cannot serve as confirmation of living together and running a joint household as a family. The plaintiff indicated that on DATE. got married with full name, which according to Art. 10 of the Law of the USSR is prohibited, but at present it is possible that the Plaintiff has children and grandchildren from this marriage, i.e. complete family. The Plaintiff indicated that, as a result of registering a second marriage without dissolving the first, she was experiencing significant moral suffering, worrying about the Fate of her family and herself in old age, thus, the Plaintiff herself recognized the fictitiousness of the first marriage of the Plaintiff and the Defendant. The Plaintiff’s argument that the Defendant’s registration of a second marriage with Full Name was only found out on the DATE is not valid for the following reasons: a civil case is currently pending in the City Court of the Moscow Region on the claim of Full Name against Full Name for divorce, division of jointly acquired property and collection of alimony for the maintenance of a disabled spouse. Full name in the section of jointly acquired property includes property with a total value of AMOUNT and includes property that was acquired by full name and full name with joint funds in the period from DATE to DATE, the city court of the Moscow region made a decision from DATE according to gr. grandfather No. on the claim of the full name against the full name for divorce, division of jointly acquired property and collection of alimony for the maintenance of a disabled spouse. By this Decision, the jointly acquired property was divided in half between full name and full name, however, in the opinion of the Defendant, this division is not beneficial for him. Thus, he believes that there are no grounds for recognizing the marriage registered between full name and full name as invalid, since the marriage was registered for the purpose of creating a family, and the marriage registered between the Plaintiff and the Defendant is fictitious, which was confirmed by the Plaintiff herself.

The representative of the Civil Registry Office of the Main Civil Registry Office of the Moscow Region did not appear at the court hearing and asked to hold the court session without his participation.

The representative of the Civil Registry Office of the city of New Athos of the Republic of Abkhazia did not appear at the court hearing, he was duly notified of the time and place of the hearing of the case, taking into account the opinions of the parties, the court considers it possible to consider the case without his participation.

Having listened to the participants in the process, interviewed witnesses, read out and examined the case materials, the court finds the Claims not subject to satisfaction for the following reasons.

From the case materials it follows that the DATE of the year in the vital record No. 00 of the Civil Registry Office of the city of New Athos of the Republic of Abkhazia registered a marriage between full name and full name, after the marriage the surnames were assigned to him - full name, and to her - full name. These circumstances are confirmed by a repeated marriage certificate 00 No. 000 dated DATE

In accordance with the marriage certificate (repeated) No. dated DATE FULL NAME DATE entered into marriage with the full name, registration number of the Civil Registry Office Department of the State Civil Registry Office of the Moscow Region, the wife was given the surname Full Name.

According to Part 2 of Art. 29 of the Federal Law of November 15, 1997 No. 143-FZ “On Acts of Civil Status”, if the marriage is dissolved, information about the dissolution of the marriage is entered into the record of the marriage act. Entering such information is carried out on the basis of a court decision on divorce or recording the act of divorce upon divorce in the civil registry office.

In the case of state registration of divorce at the place of residence of the spouses (one of the spouses), the civil registry office is obliged to report the state registration of divorce to the civil registry office at the place of state registration of the marriage within ten days.

In the case of state registration of divorce of a citizen of the Russian Federation by a consular office of the Russian Federation outside the territory of the Russian Federation, the consular office of the Russian Federation is obliged to report the State registration of divorce to the civil registry office at the place of storage of the record of the act of state registration of marriage within ninety days from the date of state registration of divorce.

There is no information about the divorce between Full Name and Full Name, which served as the basis for the Plaintiff to file this claim in court.

Article 14 of the RF IC establishes a ban on marriage by persons of whom at least one is already in a registered marriage.

In accordance with Part I of Art. 27 of the RF IC, a marriage is declared invalid if the conditions established by Art. 12-14 and paragraph 3 of Art. 15 of the RF IC, as well as in the case of a fictitious marriage, that is, if the spouses or one of them registered a marriage without the intention of starting a family.

Within the meaning of this norm, a marriage can be recognized as fictitious if the persons who registered such a marriage did not actually create a family, that is, genuine family relationships did not arise between them, in particular, mutual care for each other, mutual material support, acquisition of property for living together , other relationships characteristic of spouses. The creation, after registration of marriage, of short-term family relationships is not an indisputable confirmation of the intention of the spouses (one of them) to start a family.

Since the fictitiousness of a marriage is compared with the legal nature of an imaginary transaction, a marriage can be recognized as fictitious only if the spouses (one of them) have entered into a relationship with each other that is characteristic of spouses.

It follows that a marriage entered into in violation of the law can be declared invalid only in court at the request of an interested person.

The list of persons who have the right to apply to court with a corresponding claim is given in Article 28 of the RF IC and is exhaustive, which also includes the spouse of a previous undivorced marriage.

The court may recognize a marriage as valid if, by the time the case of invalidation is considered, the circumstances that, by force of law, prevented its conclusion have disappeared. The court cannot recognize a marriage as fictitious if the persons who registered such a marriage actually created a family before the court considered the case. A marriage cannot be declared invalid after its dissolution, with the exception of the condition of one of the spouses at the time of marriage registration in another, not dissolved marriage (Article 14 of this Code, Article 29 of the RF IC).

As established at the court hearing, from the moment of marriage with DATE and until now, the full name and full name did not live together, they do not have common children, they did not and do not have a joint household, their meetings were periodic.

Full name lives in Moscow, full name lives in Gudauta, Republic of Abkhazia. In addition, the DATE of the year FULL NAME entered into marriage with the FULL NAME, the wife was assigned the surname FIO, which follows from the repeated marriage certificate dated DATE, registration record No. 00.

DATE of the year FULL NAME died and, as follows from the Plaintiff’s explanation, she lived with him as one family until his death, ran a joint household, and from this marriage she has children. This marriage was concluded on the basis of their voluntary expression of will.

At the same time, during the trial, the Plaintiff, in accordance with the requirements of Articles 56 and 57 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, did not provide evidence of the Defendant’s intentions to start a family with her during the period of the registered marriage with her full name.

In turn, Full Name from DATE of the year was married to Full Name, which was dissolved by the decision of the City Court of the Moscow Region from DATE. When making a decision, the court found that, according to the current legislation, the marriage was concluded between them on a voluntary basis, since at present family life has not developed, marital relations between the spouses were terminated on DATE, since that time there has been no common household, currently the parties do not against divorce. This court decision made the division of the joint property of the spouses.

The court considers these circumstances proven.

In addition, the court recognizes as indisputable the evidence that the full name had the goal of creating a family with the full name, running a common household, the correspondence presented in the case materials between the full name and full name for the period DATE, joint wedding photographs. Three sons were born in this marriage, which is confirmed by the relevant birth certificates.

In accordance with Art. 55 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, evidence in the case is information obtained in the manner prescribed by law about the facts, on the basis of which the court establishes the presence or absence of circumstances justifying the demands and objections of the parties, as well as other circumstances that are important for the correct consideration and resolution of the case. This information can be obtained from explanations of the parties and third parties, testimony of witnesses, written and material evidence, audio and video recordings, and expert opinions.

Full name explained to the court that she was familiar with the full name from DATE, they started dating, this was their first relationship. He left for the army in 2010, she saw him off and went to see him, where they rented a room for her. We corresponded. On DATE, he returned from the army and registered a marriage, children were born, whom he really looked forward to and loved. They began to live in the Moscow region, he did not leave anywhere, was not in Abkhazia. I only went on a business trip to Cambodia when my children were already born. Relationships in the family were good, but now the relationship has deteriorated and they are divorced. Doesn't know about his relationship with the Plaintiff.

In such circumstances, the court, having assessed the evidence presented in the case in its entirety, including the explanations of the parties, explanations of witnesses, found that the full name and full name at the time of marriage pursued goals aimed at creating a family, therefore it comes to the conclusion that there are no grounds for recognizing this fictitious marriage.

At the same time, no evidence was provided to the court that the full name and full name ran a common household, had a single common budget, acquired property for joint use, or made joint purchases for family life. Each of the spouses, being in a registered marriage, remarried, created their own families, and have children in these marriages. They were notified of remarriages and did not object to them. Thus, the full name and full name entered into a marriage with each other without the purpose of creating a family. The relationships that they maintained after registering their marriages were short-lived and cannot indicate their family relationships.

Under these circumstances, the court comes to the conclusion that it refuses to satisfy the claims made by the Plaintiff.

Guided by Art.
194-198 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, the court DECIDED:
The statement of claim of Full Name to Full Name1 for declaring the marriage invalid is to be left without satisfaction.

The decision can be appealed to the Krasnodar Regional Court through the Anapa City Court within a month.

Judge Karpenko O.N.

How to challenge a marriage yourself

You can file a claim to declare the heir unworthy and in this way exclude the deceased's spouse from inheritance. To do this you will need

file a claim,
in the claim, indicate why you consider your spouse an unworthy heir,
for example, on the basis that he was already in a registered marriage and hid this circumstance from the deceased, and by these actions he wanted to take possession of the property without the purpose of creating a marriage.
If you have evidence of another marriage, then attach a marriage certificate to your application. Documents for property, and state duty in the amount of 300 rubles.

Thus, challenging a marriage by heirs in fact is impossible, but recognizing a spouse as an unworthy heir in fact is challenging the marriage and recognizing its invalidity.

Common reasons for filing a fictitious divorce

A fictitious divorce is filed for various purposes. Let's consider those that are most widespread:

Solving the housing problem. Most often, spouses file a fictitious divorce to obtain an apartment. For example, in some regions there are special programs for young people, and after the divorce one of the spouses can claim square meters. Another option is for a serviceman to divorce his wife: if he does not have an apartment, he can apply for official housing. And in case of resettlement from dilapidated housing, a divorced husband and wife will be able to claim two apartments instead of one.
Hiding real income and evading debt payments. In a fictitious divorce, all property can be transferred to one of the spouses, while the second, from a legal point of view, will not have any property. In this way you can hide illegal income. In addition, the ex-wife will not be responsible for her husband’s debts and vice versa. This allows you to avoid fulfilling debt obligations.
Doing Business. Some categories of citizens by law do not have the right to engage in commercial activities (military personnel, police officers, prosecutors and some others). Having filed a fictitious divorce, they can transfer all the assets to their ex-wife and calmly develop their own business.
Receiving benefits and subsidies. In this case, a large family with one parent can count on a significant reduction in utility tariffs, receiving subsidies, as well as free travel and food for children.
Possibility of immigration. Thanks to a fictitious divorce, a person can increase his chances of obtaining a residence permit in another country by starting a family with a foreign citizen.

A couple may be guided by other goals when filing a fictitious divorce.

Case Study

The company was contacted by a client whose parents had died, who in turn entered into a new marriage . It later turned out that he gave all his property to his newly-made wife. In fact, there is no inheritance, but the client had doubts about the legality of the marriage, and there were some facts that this marriage was fictitious. In order not to waste time, it was decided to challenge the marriage by filing a lawsuit to declare the heir unworthy. The registry office requested information about whether the defendant was married; the response received indicated that he was married to another person. What became the main evidence in court and influenced the positive outcome of the case.

The concept of fictitious divorce

There is no legislative definition of the concept of “fictitious divorce” in domestic regulations. The Family Code contains only the concept of a fictitious marriage, which is understood as a marriage entered into to obtain a certain benefit, without the desire to create a real family.

By analogy, we can assume that a fictitious divorce is the official dissolution of a marriage, in which the actual marital union continues to exist. Former spouses still live together, run a common household, increase material wealth, and so on.

Possible consequences of a fictitious divorce

When deciding to break family ties, you need to take into account the possible negative consequences of a fictitious divorce. Among them are the following:

There is a high probability that a fictitious divorce will become real. At times, spouses try so hard to convince others that their relationship is ending that it becomes a reality.
The need to hide the true state of affairs in front of other people, which forces one to constantly pretend to be in front of relatives, friends, representatives of social and other services.
Loss of received property. If the court becomes aware that the spouses received property as a result of a fictitious transaction, then it will be confiscated.
Loss of citizenship. When the transaction is carried out only in order to travel to another country, all the advantages of a fictitious marriage with a foreigner in the event of exposure will disappear.
Additional expenses. To consider such cases in court, lawyers are often hired, who will have to be briefed on the essence of the case and paid a fee for the work done.

Given these consequences, it becomes clear that selfish motives always involve some risk. For example, representatives of social services are well aware of the abuses that the desire to solve housing problems can cause, so they are forced to carefully examine the case of each applicant.

The concept of fictitious marriage

As mentioned above, in contrast to a fictitious divorce, the concept of a fictitious marriage is enshrined in domestic legislation. It is understood as the official registration of marriage relations without the desire to start a family, but to achieve other goals: obtaining citizenship of another country, social benefits, etc.

In recent years, this phenomenon has become a kind of business, since the other party agrees to formalize the marriage relationship not for free, but for a certain fee.

At the same time, not everyone fully realizes that, in accordance with the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, such a marriage is considered void.

Find out in more detail what a fictitious marriage is.

Court decision and legal consequences

If the court makes a positive decision and declares the marriage invalid , then three days after the decision comes into force, you can go to the registry office, where records of official relations will be canceled , and the union will be considered invalid from the date of its conclusion .

The legal background of this court decision is as follows: all rights and obligations of former spouses are considered unlawful , they no longer exist.

With regard to property, the situation is the same: there is nothing in common , who acquired what valuables, real estate, any items constituting property, now belong to the one with whose money they were purchased.

It is possible that the court will consider what was acquired during the official relationship to be common , but this does not apply to debts - it is prohibited to demand compensation for the debts of one of the couple at the expense of the property of the other.

Read a useful article about jointly acquired property here.

If there is a marriage contract, after the trial it becomes invalid , but in exceptional cases it is possible to recognize it as valid partially or in full (if the interests of one of the couple are infringed).

Completely strangers and organizations may be involved in relations with the couple, whose interests should not suffer from the results of the annulment of the marriage.

The spouse who was deceived during the formalization of the relationship is conscientious and can try to compensate for moral and material damage from the consequences of such a union . who has suffered from deception also has the right to sue for alimony for his maintenance .

If there are children in the marriage, then the consequences of declaring the parents’ marriage invalid do not affect them. Children have the right to receive funds for their maintenance and count on communication and education by both parents on the basis of current legislation (Article 30 of the RF IC).

If at first the marriage was fictitious, and then developed into a real one, then the court will have no reason to recognize such a union as invalid (in this case, only divorce is applicable to sever the relationship).