Family legal relations occupy the main position in the relevant regulatory and legislative law, as they are its basic issue. They arise on the basis of normative, legal subjective and legal-factual prerequisites. Like other public legal connections, this type of legal contact has an individual classification and a specific structure.
Family legal relations are classified according to two distinctive features: by semantic meaning and by the nature of the intersubjective connection.
In the first case, legal relations are distinguished:
- marriage;
- parental;
- in relation to education and material support;
- with an emphasis on education;
- only material ones.
Marriage and parental ties differ in their participants when the rights and responsibilities between spouses or parents and children are regulated. In addition, such contacts may arise on the basis of personal property or non-property issues.
Based on the nature of the relationship between the participants, family legal relations are classified into three groups:
- Relative, protected by absolute law . Their peculiarity is a clear definition of its participants, as well as their rights and obligations, the implementation of which is under full state protection from other persons.
- Absolute with some signs relative. They are characterized by the fact that they are under the jurisdiction of several sections of legislation.
- Relative, not having the property of absolute protection. They clearly define subjects whose rights can only be violated by designated persons.
Marriage relations
A special place among family legal relations is occupied by the legal connection of two persons in the form of marriage. In family law there is no specific definition of the concept of marital relations. Nevertheless, the RF IC allows us to draw the conclusion that they arise on the basis of a voluntary decision of two people to start a family and are characterized by equality.
Such a union leads to official registration, on the basis of which the participants have mutual personal and property rights and obligations.
Marriage legal relations arise only when specific conditions are met:
- opposite sexes;
- mutual unconstrained consent of both parties;
- reaching legal age;
- absence of obstacles: undissolved other marriage, consanguinity or adoption, as well as recognized incapacity.
The law in the field of family ties defines the beginning of a marriage union as the moment of its state registration with the civil registry office.
A marriage that began as a result of de facto (civil) or church registration is not considered regulated by law.
It is customary to distinguish between marriage legal relations:
- Personal . They have no material basis and are closely related to the personality of their participants. Spouses have the right to freely choose their positions in life, but at the same time they are obliged to build their union on the basis of mutual understanding and mutual respect.
- Property . They represent deeper and more diverse relationships that have many nuances, and therefore are examined by family law in more detail than personal marital rights and obligations.
Property legal relations in marriage are regulated on both sides, on issues of property or alimony. The RF IC clearly defines that property acquired during a marriage is the joint property of the spouses, unless otherwise specified in the marriage contract. Alimony obligations arise if the participants in marital relations have children or other legal circumstances when one of them becomes obligated to pay material maintenance to the other.
Marital relations are terminated if:
- one of the spouses has died and all disputes with property rights have been clarified;
- The marriage was dissolved by the registry office and all financial issues were resolved.
Examples
To fully present the concept of family legal relations, let’s consider their examples in terms of classification:
- Personal marital legal ties between spouses arise when deciding on changing the surname, as well as determining joint living conditions and individual hobbies.
- Property contacts of spouses, regulated by law , are procedures for determining property rights or material support of family members.
- Parental legal relations arise when parents decide on issues of children’s education, their hobbies, financial allowance, etc.
According to the nature of the protection of subjective rights, family legal relations are as follows.
1 . Relative family legal relations with an absolute nature of protection (for example, parents can seek protection in court if someone interferes with their choice of method of raising their children). In such legal relations, authorized persons are clearly defined.
2. Absolute family legal relations with signs of relative family legal relations (for example, demands for the division of common marital property can be presented by the plaintiff only to the person with whom he is married). The identification of this type of family legal relationship is explained by the fact that property legal relations are absolute in nature (this means that the owner can demand from any person that he does not prevent him from exercising his powers as an owner). Since spouses own property acquired during marriage under the right of common joint ownership, their rights as owners are relative. This means that they can satisfy their interests only with the consent of the other spouse.
3. Relative family legal relations that do not have an absolute nature of protection, i.e. legal relations in which authorized and obligatory persons are identified and the person who may be a violator of the rights of the authorized person is indicated (the violator must be a participant in this legal relationship). An example of such legal relations are personal non-property legal relations between spouses or alimony relations between any family members.
5. Legal capacity and capacity in family law.
In family law, the concepts of legal capacity and legal capacity are absent. Their definitions are borrowed from civil law, in which legal capacity is defined as the ability of a citizen to have civil rights and bear responsibilities (Article 17 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation), and legal capacity is defined as the ability of a citizen to acquire and exercise civil rights through his actions, create civil responsibilities for himself and fulfill them (Article 21 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). Based on this, it is possible to determine family legal capacity and legal capacity by analogy .
Each of the subjects of family legal relations is endowed with legal capacity. It arises from the moment of birth and expands upon reaching a certain age. Thus, the ability to marry, to be a guardian, trustee, adoptive parent, or foster parent appears only from adulthood.
In some cases provided by law, legal capacity may be limited. For example, persons who, for health reasons, cannot exercise parental rights cannot be adoptive parents.
The presence of family capacity is not always a necessary condition for participation in family legal relations. Thus, in parental legal relations, the child is an incompetent subject.
Loss of legal capacity in itself does not terminate family legal relations, but can only serve as a reason for their termination. Thus, the basis for terminating marital relations with a spouse recognized as incompetent will be the dissolution of the marriage, and not the recognition of him as incompetent.
Full legal capacity in family law, as in civil law, arises from the age of 18.
Partial legal capacity arises before the age of 18, in cases
provided for by law: from the age of 10, the child gives consent to adoption, to restoration of parental rights; from the age of 14, minor parents have the right to establish paternity of their children in court.
The basis for termination of family legal capacity and capacity is
Recognition of a citizen as incompetent on the basis of Art. 29 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation leads to the loss of family capacity.
6. Legal facts in family law.
Legal facts in family law are real life circumstances that, in accordance with current family law, are the basis for the emergence, change or termination of family legal relations.
Legal facts that are important for family legal relations have both general characteristics inherent in all legal facts, regardless of sectoral focus, and special ones.
General features of legal facts:
1. A legal fact is a phenomenon of reality.
2. Legal facts exist independently of people's consciousness.
3. Legal facts entail certain legal consequences: the emergence, change or termination of legal relations.
Specific features of legal facts in family law:
1. They are provided for by the norms of family law.
2. Certain legal consequences in family law are most often associated not with one legal fact, but with their totality - the actual composition.
3. Quite often in family law, states (kinship, marriage, adoption) act as legal facts.
4. Conditions are of a continuing nature and can repeatedly act as grounds for the emergence, change, or termination of family rights and obligations.
5. In family law, great importance is attached to deadlines as a type of legal facts.
Types of legal facts in family law:
Classification of legal facts in family law is carried out on the following grounds:
- based on volition;
- by duration of existence;
- according to legal consequences.
Based on volition, legal facts are divided into actions and events.
Actions are real life facts as a result of people’s conscious activity. They are divided into legitimate (recognition of paternity) and unlawful (conclusion of a fictitious marriage).
Events are legally significant circumstances that occur against the will of people.
Events can be absolute, which do not depend on the will of people at all (the death of a spouse as a basis for termination of a marriage relationship), and relative - they arise according to the will of a person, and in further development do not depend on it (the state of kinship)
According to the duration of their existence, legal facts are divided into short-term and long-term.
Short-term legal facts exist for a short time and give rise to legal consequences once (birth, death, divorce).
Lasting legal facts - states - exist for a long time and at the same time periodically give rise to legal consequences.
Among the legal facts - conditions, the most common and significant in family law are kinship and matrimony.
According to legal consequences, legal facts in family law are divided into five types:
- law-generating - legal facts, the occurrence of which entails the emergence of family legal relations (the birth of a child, marriage);
- law-altering - legal facts with which family law associates a change in family legal relations (a change in the marriage contract to the legally established regime for joint ownership of property acquired during marriage);
- terminating - legal facts with the occurrence of which the norms of family law link the termination of family legal relations (the death of a spouse as the basis for the termination of a marital legal relationship);
- legal obstacles - legal facts, the presence of which prevents the development of a legal relationship in accordance with the will of one of its participants (in accordance with Article 17 of the RF IC, the husband does not have the right, without the consent of the wife, to initiate proceedings for divorce during the wife’s pregnancy and within a year after birth child);
- restorative - legal facts, the occurrence of which the law associates with the restoration of previously lost rights and obligations (restoration of parental rights).
7. Time limits in family law. Limitation of actions.
The term in family law, as well as in other branches of law, is a certain period of time with which the law associates the occurrence or non-occurrence of certain legal consequences.
Depending on who established them, terms in family law are divided into:
stipulated by law, or legal deadlines. For example, the obligation of the court to inform the registry office about the cancellation of adoption within three days after the decision enters into legal force; established by the court, or court deadlines. For example, when considering a divorce case, the court gives spouses three months to settle their relationship; provided for by the participants in family legal relations. For example, the time the child spent with each of them when they lived separately.
As is known, personal non-property and property relations arising between spouses, parents (persons replacing them) and minor children are lasting, i.e. they are not defined by any time frame.
Depending on the degree of their certainty, designation and goals in family law, they are usually divided into several types:
-terms of existence of rights and obligations. Thus, in accordance with Article 95 of the RF IC, disabled grandparents in need of help have the right to demand in court to receive alimony from their able-bodied grandchildren (granddaughters) who have the necessary means for this, if it is impossible to receive maintenance from their adult able-bodied children or from a spouse (ex-spouse); -permissive. In accordance with paragraph 3 of Art. 19 of the RF IC, divorce in the registry office is permitted after a month from the date of filing the application for divorce; - prohibitive. These include, for example, the prohibition on a husband, without the consent of his wife, to initiate proceedings for divorce during the wife’s pregnancy and within a year after the birth of the child (Article 17 of the RF IC); -binding. In accordance with paragraph 3 of Article 70 of the RF IC, the court is obliged, within three days from the date of entry into legal force of the court decision on deprivation of parental rights, to send an extract from this decision to the registry office at the place of registration of the child’s birth; -indicating an event that must inevitably occur. Thus, if there is an immediate threat to the life of a child or his health, the guardianship and trusteeship authority, in accordance with clause 1 of Article 77 of the RF IC, has the right to immediately take the child away from the parents (one of them) or from other persons in whose care he is.
The period established by law, court or agreement of the parties may be determined by a calendar date or the expiration of a period of time, which is calculated in years, months, weeks, days or hours.
If the period is limited by a period of time, then the countdown begins from the next day after the calendar date or the occurrence of the event that determines its beginning.
Limitation period, limitation periods in family law
Family law does not always provide for a statute of limitations. Then, when determining the onset or termination of family relations, the rules on calculating time limits contained in the norms of civil legislation are applied.
In accordance with Art. 195 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the limitation period is the period for protecting the right in a claim of a person whose rights have been violated. It is set at three years.
In accordance with Art. 9 of the RF IC, the statute of limitations does not apply to claims arising from a violation of family relations, except in cases established by the norms of the Family Code itself. If it is necessary to use it, resort to the norms specified in Art. 198-200 and 202-205 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. The content of these norms is as follows:
- the limitation periods and the procedure for calculating them cannot be changed by agreement of the parties; claims for the protection of a violated right are accepted for consideration regardless of the expiration of the statute of limitations; - the court applies the limitation period only upon the application of a party to a dispute that arose before the court made a decision; - the beginning of the limitation period is the day when the person learned or should have learned about the violation of his right. If the limitation period is established in the RF IC, then its running begins from the time specified in the article of the RF IC; - the grounds for suspension, interruption and restoration of the limitation period are established in Art. 202, 203, 205 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.
The Family Code of the Russian Federation defines the following limitation periods:
- one year during which the spouse, whose notarized consent to the transaction for the termination of real estate and a transaction requiring notarization and (or) state registration was not received, has the right to demand recognition of the transaction as invalid (Clause 3 of Article 35 of the RF IC) ; -three years - for spouses’ demands for the division of common joint property (clause 7 of article 38 of the RF IC); -a marriage contract can be declared invalid as a voidable transaction within one year, and in case of nullity - within ten years (Clause 1 of Article 44 of the RF IC).
8. Measures of protection and liability in family law.
The protection of family rights is a system of measures aimed at restoring rights, recognizing and suppressing offenses, applying sanctions to offenders and bringing them to justice, as well as a mechanism for the practical implementation of the above measures.
The protection of subjective family rights and interests protected by law is carried out in accordance with the procedure established by law, which provides for the use of appropriate forms and methods of protection. In legal science, a form of protection is understood as a set of internally agreed upon organizational measures to protect subjective rights and interests protected by law.
It is customary to distinguish two main forms of protection of rights: jurisdictional and non-jurisdictional:
The jurisdictional form of protection is associated with the activities of state-authorized bodies for the protection of violated or disputed rights. This form of protection, in turn, is divided into: 1) judicial and 2) administrative.
A non-jurisdictional form of protection represents the actions of citizens and organizations to protect rights and interests protected by law, which they carry out independently, without seeking help from the competent authorities. Such actions are called self-defense of rights. Self-defense of violated family law is permissible in cases where the subject of the family legal relationship has the ability to lawfully influence the violator without the help of a court or government agencies.
Judicial protection is the main form of protection of family rights. In accordance with Art. 8 of the RF IC, the protection of family rights is carried out by the court according to the rules of civil proceedings. The jurisdiction of the court of the Code of the Russian Federation includes making decisions on the most important issues in the field of family legal relations. By way of claim proceedings, violated or disputed family rights are defended in the courts, for example, declaring a marriage invalid, collecting alimony, and dividing jointly acquired marital property. By way of special proceedings, protected interests are protected, for example, establishing the fact of recognition of paternity, facts of registration of birth, adoption, marriage, divorce.
Protection of family rights in an administrative manner is allowed only in cases provided for in the RF IC, and is carried out by contacting government bodies or a specific official (executive authorities, prosecutor's office, guardianship and trusteeship authorities, internal affairs bodies, etc.). Protection of family rights by administrative bodies can be expressed, firstly, in independent decision-making within their competence; secondly, in sending the relevant demands to the court; thirdly, mandatory participation in judicial proceedings. In some cases, the listed actions are interrelated. For example, deprivation of parental rights is carried out by the court both upon application and with the participation of guardianship and trusteeship authorities (Article 70 of the RF IC). A decision made administratively may be appealed to a court in accordance with the law.
To ensure the protection of family rights and interests protected by law, the methods of protection provided for by law are applied. The method of protecting family rights is an action or system of actions used in protection. Family law, unlike civil law, does not contain a list of ways to protect family rights. These methods are indicated in specific norms regulating certain family relationships. These include:
a) recognition of rights;
b) restoration of the violated right;
c) termination (suppression) of certain actions that violate (infringe) a right or create a threat to its violation, including by depriving or restricting the rights of one person in order to protect the rights of another person;
d) coercion to fulfill an obligation (for example, to pay alimony, compensation for material or moral damage, payment of a penalty and compensation for losses);
e) termination or change of legal relations;
e) other methods.
To protect violated family rights, methods of protection of a non-property nature are most often used (restoration of a violated right, deprivation of rights, restrictions, etc.). Compensation for damages and payment of penalties for the protection of violated family rights are applied only in a few cases established by law.
It is necessary to distinguish between measures of protection and measures of liability. Family legal measures of protection are means of family legal influence aimed at preventing or suppressing violations of subjective family rights, applied in the manner prescribed by law, regardless of the guilt of the offender.
Responsibility measures in family law are measures of state influence on the guilty offender established by family law, expressed in the deprivation of his subjective right or in additional adverse property consequences.
Science has highlighted the following differences between measures of protection and measures of liability:
• measures of liability are applied in the presence of guilt, and measures of protection are applied regardless of guilt;
• protective measures are aimed at protecting the violated subjective right; when applied, the offender is often forced to fulfill an obligation only to the extent that he did not fulfill it voluntarily. And measures of responsibility, in addition to protecting the violated right, include punishment of the guilty offender in the form of adverse consequences of a personal or property nature for him.
Family law liability has certain features. Its application is possible only to participants in family legal relations. Mandatory grounds for family legal liability are: unlawful behavior of the subject of family legal relations and his guilt. Illegality means a violation of the law or other legal act. Guilt is a person’s mental attitude towards his illegal behavior and its result. The presence of harm (damage) is not always necessary for family legal liability to arise.
Liability in family law can be either statutory or contractual.
9. Implementation and protection of family rights.
General fundamental provisions on the implementation and protection of rights arising from family relations (family rights) are enshrined in Art. 7–9 of the RF IC and are specified in subsequent articles of the RF IC.
Citizens have the right to dispose of their family rights at their own discretion . The law thereby gives the family members themselves the right to decide whether they will exercise and protect their rights and take the necessary actions for this. For example, disabled, needy parents who have the right to receive maintenance (alimony) from their adult children often do not exercise their right in life and do not go to court to demand alimony.
However, the ability to choose a behavior in family relationships, the freedom to decide whether to exercise one’s right or not, does not mean unlimited freedom, the possibility of violating the law, the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of other family members and other citizens.
The RF IC clearly states that family rights are protected by law, except in cases where they are exercised in conflict with the purpose of these rights.
The implementation of family rights in accordance with their purpose presupposes their implementation in a way that would fully contribute to the strengthening of the family, ensure the proper upbringing of children, and create favorable conditions for the full development of all family members. Therefore, in cases where family rights, although formally based on the law, are exercised contrary to their purpose (i.e. when citizens abuse their rights), they are not protected by law. For example, the court has the right to release a spouse from the obligation to support another spouse (albeit a disabled and needy one) if the latter behaved unworthily in the family (neglected family responsibilities, constantly drank, abused his wife (husband), children, etc.); the court also has the right to deviate from the principle of equality of shares of spouses when dividing their common property if one of the spouses spent it to the detriment of the interests of his family.
The concept of family relations
Family legal relations represent the relationships of individuals in society on issues of personal property and non-property rights and obligations, which are regulated by the norms of family law. They should not be confused with the concept of family relations, since legal relations are a legal category, and relationships are psychological.
The onset of legal obligations between family members is characterized by a number of features in the legislation:
- regulation of a specific area of family ties allocated by the RF IC;
- the presence of equality between subjects;
- limited circle of participants;
- probable establishment of relations by agreement of the parties;
- personal and confidential contact.
Structure of family legal relations
The structure of family legal relations is expressed in their elements:
- Subjects.
- An object.
- Content.
The subjects of family legal ties are considered to be their participants approved by law and corresponding to the characteristics established by it. The object is specific actions, valued property or material goods. And the content of relations regulated by family law are the subjective rights and obligations arising from them.
Legal protection of relations
Family legal relations have varying degrees of protection. Thus, there are relative relations that have an absolute nature of protection. Here the subjects are clearly defined - bearers of certain rights and responsibilities. The implementation of legal rights is ensured by state protection. At the same time, parents, for example, are free to choose methods of education. Any obstruction to the implementation of these methods may result in legal action by legal representatives.
The second group of relations are absolute, having some features of relative ones. Spouses here act as property owners. Property rights are protected by the owners themselves. The mutual responsibilities and rights of spouses are relative.
Finally, the third group of relations is relative, without signs of absolute legal protection. The subjects, as well as their responsibilities and rights, are clearly defined here. The right of one person may be violated by another person who participates in this legal relationship. As an example, alimony relations should be highlighted here.
Signs
First of all, family relationships are individualized, that is, they can arise exclusively between specific participants. Relationships are public and socially significant.
Legal relations in the family presuppose the existence of certain legal obligations and rights for each subject, which arise under certain circumstances.
Another sign and feature of family legal relations is inalienability. That is, the rights and obligations arising in the family cannot be donated, sold or assigned to another person, or bequeathed. And, of course, such relationships are exclusively personal and trusting.
Classification
Features and types of family legal relations have a fairly broad classification:
- According to content, non-property and property legal relations are distinguished.
- By specific content: parental and marital.
- According to the subjective composition: complex and simple. The last type is a relationship in which there are only two participants, for example, spouses. Complex is a relationship in which there are three participants, for example, parents and a child.
- According to the distribution of obligations and rights: bilateral and unilateral.
- By type of individualization: absolute and relative. The latter include those relationships where all participants in the relationship are known in advance and by name. Absolute legal relations arise when only one party is known in advance, but this type is practically not typical for family law.
And the last type of classification is based on public interest. There are three types in this category. The first type is when relations are regulated imperatively, that is, related to guardianship or adoption. The second type is the implementation of obligations and rights, although they are of a public nature, but their protection and implementation is the responsibility of the participants in the relationship. The most striking example is alimony, that is, the parent who abandoned the child seems to have to pay money, but hides, and the second relative goes to court to collect the due payments. The third type is present exclusively on a discretionary basis, and there is no public interest in it.
Peculiarities
The features of such legal relations include:
- Citizens are considered subjects: spouses, children, other family members.
- Connecting loved ones.
- Participants are individualized.
- Rights and responsibilities are interconnected.
- They are considered personal and then property.
- They have a personal and confidential character.
Content
What is the essence and features of family legal relations? The fact is that such relationships form obligations and rights for all subjects. Each family member has legal capacity and, under certain conditions, legal capacity arises.
Legal capacity in this case means the ability to have obligations and rights in the family. It arises from the moment of birth, but the scope of legal capacity changes with age and fully arises from the age of 18, that is, from the moment of adulthood.
Legal capacity is the ability of a family member to exercise and acquire rights and responsibilities in the family. It is important to note that legal capacity is not a prerequisite for the emergence of family relationships. Family law does not establish the age at which it begins. Therefore, most often, legal capacity and legal capacity arise simultaneously.
However, civil and family capacity are often interrelated. For example, if for medical reasons, due to mental illness, a citizen loses his civil capacity, then he automatically loses his family capacity, that is, he does not have the right to marry, cannot become a foster parent, and so on.
