Laws on divorce (dissolution of marriage)

The Civil Code of the Russian Federation is part of the system of domestic legal acts regulating family legal relations in general (the process of divorce in particular). It is obvious that the Civil Code is not the main such normative act, but its norms are the basis for the provisions of the Civil Code that directly regulate the divorce process.

• The Civil Code determines the legal status of spouses , establishing a direct relationship between the legal capacity of individuals and their ability to marry.
• The Civil Code determines the basic principles on which the division of property of spouses is carried out - the equality of the shares allocated to them, property that is not subject to division, etc.

The methods and conditions for formalizing, concluding and terminating agreements on the payment of alimony and the division of property also deserve special attention. Since they are bilateral transactions, these methods and conditions are regulated by the rules of the Civil Code.

Issues of legal status of spouses

As is known, the conclusion of an officially registered marriage between individuals is a legal fact. From the moment of its actual registration, each of the spouses entering into marriage equally becomes the owner of the corresponding rights and obligations established by family law.

The emergence of rights and obligations of spouses for individuals, according to Art. 13 of the IC, is allowed from the moment they reach the age of marriage, which in general cases is 18 years, and in exceptional cases - 16 years.

The legislator’s determination of exactly this age as the main condition for the possibility of marriage is not accidental - in this matter, the provisions of family law refer to the Civil Code, which defines the main aspects of the legal status of spouses under the Civil Code:

• The possibility of individuals having conjugal rights and obligations is determined by their civil capacity (Article 21 of the Civil Code). Only upon reaching the age of majority, individuals can, by their actions, acquire rights and obligations , including marital ones.
• In cases where the law allows marriage before adulthood, an individual acquires legal capacity from the moment of marriage (Clause 2 of Article 21 of the Civil Code). It should be understood that the emergence of full legal capacity from the moment of marriage allows the emergence of not only marital, but also any other rights and obligations regulated by the Civil Code.
• The Civil Code also regulates issues of legal capacity of individuals (Article 17 of the Civil Code) - the ability to have any rights and perform any duties. This ability arises in citizens from the moment of birth and ends at the moment of death. Since spouses are individuals, their ability to have conjugal rights and perform duties is directly related to their civil capacity .

Divorce under the family code: what you need to know

The provisions presented on the basis of the civil act (Article 16) for matrimonial relations provide for a whole list of legal aspects that can serve as a reason for the formal consideration of divorce proceedings. There are also some procedural features, without which the dissolution of the union cannot be formalized, from a legal point of view.

The Family Relations Code describes all the features and nuances of the divorce process. For example, who will minor children stay with after their parents break up, how will property be distributed. However, not all the features provided for by the code are yet available.

13 Jul 2021 consurist 309

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Property of spouses during divorce

Provisions of Art. 33 of the IC, determine the legal regime of the property of the spouses acquired by them during their marriage, according to which it is their common joint property . According to Art. 34 of the Family Code, such joint property should be considered all income received by such spouses, as well as movable and immovable things acquired with this income.

In case of divorce, according to paragraph 1 of Art. 38 of the Family Code, spouses have the right to division of jointly acquired property, which is carried out through conciliation or court proceedings.

The rules on the basis of which property is divided during a divorce are established by Chapter 7 of the Family Code, however, the basic principles of this procedure are undoubtedly taken from civil legislation . In particular, the Civil Code establishes:

• What property is the property of each spouse and is not subject to division during divorce . According to paragraph 2 of Art. 256 of the Civil Code, such property is that acquired before the registration of marriage, received by the spouse as a gift and by inheritance, as well as personal items (clothing, shoes, hygiene items, linen, etc.) and the exclusive right to the result of intellectual activity.
• The principle according to which the property of each spouse can be recognized as common property - in cases where, at the expense of the common property or personal property of the other spouse, investments were made in the thing that significantly increased its value (repair, restoration, modernization).
• The principle of equality of shares of spouses in their joint property, which must be observed when dividing common property (clause 2 of Article 254 of the Civil Code).
• The need for monetary compensation for damage to the spouse in the event of a disproportion between the property allocated to the spouse and the share belonging to him during the division of joint property (clause 3 of Article 254 of the Civil Code).

Article 21

2. A marriage is also dissolved in court when one of the spouses, without formally refusing to dissolve the marriage in the civil registry office, actually does not do so. Paragraph 2 of the commented article provides a non-exhaustive list of actions that indicate that one of the spouses is avoiding a divorce in the civil registry office.

1. The presence of common minor children presupposes dissolution of marriage in court, however, even if the spouses have common minor children in the cases provided for in paragraph 2 of Article 19 of the Family Code (if one of the spouses is recognized by the court as missing, incompetent, or sentenced to imprisonment for committing a crime for a period of more than three years (see commentary to it)), divorce is possible in the registry office.

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Limitation period for divorce

According to Art. 195 of the Civil Code, the limitation period is the period established by law during which a person can defend his violated right . Regarding divorce, the statute of limitations establishes the period during which former spouses can protect their violated rights arising from family relationships.

However, according to Art. 9 of the Family Code, the statute of limitations established by civil law does not apply to any claims arising from family relationships. Exceptions are the deadlines for the protection of violated rights established by the Investigative Committee itself.

When carrying out the divorce procedure, it is advisable to know the statute of limitations in relation to claims for:

• Division of jointly acquired property . The specified period, in accordance with clause 7 of Art. 38 SK, is 3 years . However, its course begins not from the moment of registration of divorce, but from the moment when one of the spouses became aware of a violation of his property rights.
• Collection of alimony for the maintenance of a minor child . The deadlines for going to court are established by Art. 107 of the Family Code, according to which one of the spouses can apply for them, regardless of the period that has elapsed from the moment the right to alimony maintenance arose. Thus, the statute of limitations covers the entire period from the moment the right to them arises until the moment the right is revoked (reaching adulthood, graduating, etc.).
• Collecting alimony for a needy ex-spouse . The period will last for as long as such right remains in effect. So, according to Art. 90 of the Family Code, the ex-wife has the right to file a claim in court during pregnancy and before leaving maternity leave, a disabled spouse - during the period of incapacity, etc., provided that the other spouse has the means to pay alimony.

All the intricacies of divorce: studying the Family Code

1. A marriage union is dissolved through the courts if there are joint children in the marriage who have not reached the age of majority, or if one of the spouses expresses disagreement with the dissolution of the union. Exceptions are provided for in paragraph 2 of Article 19 of the RF IC
2. Divorce proceedings through the court can occur if there is consent, but one of the parties evades signing the documentation.

Thanks to the development of Internet technologies, an application for divorce can be submitted on the government services portal or through the MFC (Multifunctional Center). The Family Code of Russia describes the conditions under which a person has the right to draw up and send an application to the registry office if he wishes to get a divorce. These include:

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Procedure

The conditions for marriage and divorce are slightly different. If the consent of both partners is required to form a new unit of society, an application for divorce proceedings is accepted even from one person. The grounds for divorce do not say that the spouses must, by mutual consent, write a statement of claim. The marriage will be dissolved even with the consent of one party. If all the grounds and conditions for divorce are met, the claim will be satisfied. The wishes of the second spouse will not be taken into account. But the divorce process can drag on indefinitely.

There are several exceptions to the conditions for divorce in the Russian Federation:

1. Woman's pregnancy.
2. Presence of a newborn child (under 1 year of age).

In such situations, the spouse does not have the right to file a claim for divorce in court or the registry office. State authorities will only accept an application if the initiator is the wife. The law specifies special conditions for filing for divorce in such cases. If the child was stillborn or died a short time after birth, the husband also cannot demand a break in the relationship within one year.

Let's consider the main conditions for divorce and which authorities perform it in the Russian Federation. This procedure is carried out in the registry office or court. It all depends on the relationship between the spouses and whether there are children who have not yet celebrated their 18th birthday. If the divorce takes place in court, after it you will still need to contact the registry office to pick up a divorce certificate. The decision is made and the certificate is issued within 30 days. This is one of the main conditions for divorce of spouses in 2021.

Actual divorce

Sometimes spouses stop living together without officially dissolving their marriage. There may be various reasons for this: for example, the couple has not yet come to a final decision regarding divorce. Or, at a given moment in time, the spouses simply do not have time to deal with a formal divorce. If the period of actual divorce drags on for a long time, the personal circumstances of each spouse may change. For example, one of the former spouses (still officially married) will purchase real estate or other expensive property. How to divide it when the couple finally reaches the registry office to file a divorce? In all cases of possible disagreements, the court may take into account that the couple did not actually live together for a long time and did not run a common household. This can be proven with the help of witnesses.

Religious divorce is different from legal divorce

Divorce in court: conditions and necessary documents

- the spouses have minor children together;

- one of the parties does not agree to dissolution of marriage or divorce;

- the spouse, without having any objections, evades the divorce process in organizations that record civil acts, namely, refuses to provide an application, does not want to appear before the authorities for the official registration of the annulment of the marriage union, etc.

Divorce in court begins with the defendant filing an application at his place of residence. A claim against a defendant who is located outside the country, namely the Russian Federation, or whose place of residence is completely unknown, is submitted to the judicial authorities at the location of his property or at his last place of residence in the Russian Federation.

What is divorce

If we look at the law, divorce is the dissolution of an official marriage between spouses. Many solve their problems by moving to different homes, ceasing to live together and raise children. But such methods are not enshrined in law, so think about submitting an application provided for by the laws of the Russian Federation to the registry office or court. At the end of the proceedings, people will be given a special document confirming that official relations have been terminated.

In order to go through the entire procedure correctly, it is worth finding out what conditions for divorce are provided for in the law of the Russian Federation. People who have officially legalized their relationship through the registry office can submit documents for dissolution of the union. The term “divorce” itself is not provided for in legislation, so it would be legally correct to say “divorce.”