Legal capacity of minors aged 14 to 18 years.

Legal capacity

Legal capacity from a legal point of view denotes the milestone after which a citizen becomes old enough to actively participate in civil society, work in business or any other type of activity.

According to the law, a citizen who has reached the age of majority becomes legally capable.

He can exercise his own property and non-property rights. Full legal capacity means that a person must know the law and act within the law, because in case of non-compliance with the law, appropriate penalties may be applied to him.

The content of the legal capacity of citizens from a legal point of view is the human right to independently perform legally significant actions:

He can enter into contracts;
Capable of issuing a power of attorney;
Obliged to be responsible for damage or destruction of property of other citizens, harm to the health of another person, and so on;
Obliged to be responsible for improper performance of previously concluded contractual obligations.

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What does legal capacity and capacity include?

The legal capacity of citizens includes the ability to:

have the right of ownership of property (own it);
bequeath and inherit property;
engage in business activities;
create legal entities;
participate in various transactions;
choose your own place of residence;
create works of art, literature, science;
have other property and non-property rights.

An individual can exercise all these rights in full upon reaching the age of majority (18 years of age).

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If a citizen marries before he reaches the age of majority (if the law allows this), then he acquires civil capacity from the moment of marriage. If an individual who got married before the age of 18 gets divorced before reaching the age of majority, then he or she retains full civil capacity.

The legal capacity and legal capacity of individuals can only be limited through judicial proceedings.

Capacity and legal capacity

The classification of legal capacity is divided into two elements:

The ability of a citizen to independently make transactions, acquire new rights, and take on new responsibilities. This is called bargaining power;
The ability of a citizen to be fully responsible for the unlawful actions he has committed and to bear civil liability. This is called tortiousness.

Concepts such as “capacity” and “legal capacity” are not inherent in humans. The meaning of these concepts has a legal basis, which means they are imposed on citizens by law. The meaning of legal capacity is the possession of rights and obligations, while in legal capacity it means the acquisition and exercise of rights and obligations by one’s own actions. All these actions can be performed only within the framework of the law. All citizens have legal capacity, while with legal capacity everything is not so clear. Therefore, there are such types of legal capacity as full and limited.

Age determining legal capacity

The legislation of the vast majority of countries contains the concept and content of the legal capacity of citizens. According to the letter of the law, a citizen becomes fully capable upon reaching a certain age threshold. This age is called adulthood. In many countries, including Russia, Great Britain, France and so on, a citizen is considered an adult when he reaches 18 years of age. As for Germany, a citizen will be considered an adult at the end of the eighteenth year of life. In Japan, legislation has decided that citizens reach full legal capacity at the age of 20. In the United States, things are not so simple. In most states of the country, a citizen will be considered an adult only after he turns 21 years old.

In addition to full legal capacity, there is also limited capacity. Types of limited legal capacity:

Legal capacity of children aged 6 to 14 years;
Legal capacity of children aged 14 to 18 years.

These types of legal capacity mean that minor citizens do not have full legal capacity.

Legal capacity from 6 to 14 years of age

In order for a citizen to be able to independently perform volitional actions in full upon reaching adulthood, he should be gradually accustomed to this. From the moment a minor turns 6 years old, he has certain rights. From a legal point of view, children of this age can:

Conduct small household transactions;
Conclude transactions that do not require notarization or state registration. The result of such transactions must be a benefit for the child;
Independently manage the funds provided to him by his legal representatives.

Young children, although they can make certain transactions, are not responsible for this, since they are incapacitated citizens. All responsibility for children lies on the shoulders of their parents, guardians or legal representatives. If young children cause damage to other people's property, adults will be held responsible.

Incapacity of citizens

An individual can be declared incompetent only in court in case of mental disorders, when a person cannot understand what he is doing and cannot control his actions.

A guardian must be appointed over an incapacitated citizen, who makes all transactions on his behalf.

If a person regains the ability to think sensibly, then in court he can be recognized as legally competent, in which case guardianship over him is removed.

Limitation of legal capacity of individuals

A citizen’s legal capacity may be limited by a court if he takes alcohol or drugs and at the same time puts his family in a difficult financial situation.

The limited legal capacity of an individual also requires the appointment of a guardian who will represent the interests of the person with limited legal capacity.

Such a citizen can still carry out small household transactions; all other transactions are carried out on his behalf by his guardian. In addition, such a citizen cannot independently manage his earnings, pension and other income, but only with the consent of the trustee.

Despite the limitation of legal capacity, an individual bears full property liability. By a court decision, full legal capacity can be returned to a person if the grounds that caused the restriction no longer exist.

Legal capacity from 14 to 18 years of age

At the age of 14, minors acquire partial legal capacity. The actions of children of this age already have a different legal connotation, since, according to the law, they can be prosecuted. According to general rules, criminal liability begins at the age of 16, but if a teenager has committed a particularly dangerous act, then if he is already 14 years old, he can be sent to prison.

Starting from the age of 14, a teenager, with the written consent of his parents, can already make any transactions. The parents themselves, or the legal representatives of a child who has reached the age of 14, do not have the right to make property transactions that may affect the interests of the child, without his consent.

So, the content of the legal capacity of citizens aged 14 to 18 years is as follows:

A teenager has the right to independently manage his income (scholarship, earnings, etc.);
A teenager has the right to claim and exercise copyright on his own intellectual activity;
The teenager has the right to manage his own deposits and deposit funds into them;
A teenager has the right to join a cooperative when he reaches the age of 16.

The capacity of a citizen The ability of a citizen, through his actions, to acquire and exercise civil rights, to create civil responsibilities for himself and to fulfill them (civil capacity) arises in full with the onset of adulthood, that is, upon reaching the age of eighteen.

In cases where the law allows marriage before the age of eighteen, a citizen under eighteen years of age acquires full legal capacity from the time of marriage. The legal capacity acquired as a result of marriage is retained in full even in the event of divorce before reaching the age of eighteen. If a marriage is declared invalid, the court may decide that the minor spouse loses full legal capacity from the moment determined by the court. Legal capacity of minors aged fourteen to eighteen years 1. Minors aged fourteen to eighteen years make transactions, with the exception of those mentioned in paragraph 2 of this article, with the written consent of their legal representatives - parents, adoptive parents or guardian. A transaction made by such a minor is also valid with its subsequent written approval by his parents, adoptive parents or guardian. 2. Minors aged fourteen to eighteen years have the right to independently, without the consent of parents, adoptive parents and guardians: 1) manage their earnings, scholarships and other income; 2) exercise the rights of the author of a work of science, literature or art, invention or other result of his intellectual activity protected by law; 3) in accordance with the law, make deposits in credit organizations and manage them; (as amended by Federal Law No. 302-FZ of December 30, 2012) 4) carry out small household transactions and other transactions provided for in paragraph 2 of Article 28 of this Code. Upon reaching the age of sixteen, minors are also eligible to be members of cooperatives in accordance with cooperative laws. 3. Minors aged fourteen to eighteen years independently bear property liability for transactions made by them in accordance with paragraphs 1 and this article. For the harm caused by them, such minors are liable in accordance with this Code. 4. If there are sufficient grounds, the court, at the request of parents, adoptive parents or a trustee or a guardianship and trusteeship body, may limit or deprive a minor aged fourteen to eighteen years of the right to independently dispose of his earnings, scholarship or other income, except for cases where such a minor has acquired full legal capacity in accordance with paragraph 2 of Article 21 or Article 27 of this Code.

Emancipation

1. A minor who has reached the age of sixteen may be declared fully capable if he works under an employment contract, including a contract, or with the consent of his parents, adoptive parents or guardian is engaged in entrepreneurial activity. A minor is declared fully capable (emancipation) by decision of the guardianship and trusteeship authority - with the consent of both parents, adoptive parents or trustee, or in the absence of such consent - by a court decision. 2. Parents, adoptive parents and guardians are not liable for the obligations of an emancipated minor, in particular for obligations arising as a result of harm caused to them. However, if a minor does not have property or earnings sufficient to compensate for the harm, the harm in the appropriate part must be compensated by his parents (adoptive parents, guardian), unless they prove that the harm did not arise through their fault (Article 1073 of the Civil Code). A transaction made by a minor aged 14 to 18 years without the consent of his parents, adoptive parents or guardian, in cases where such consent is required in accordance with Article 26 of the Civil Code, may be declared invalid by the court at the claim of the parents, adoptive parents or guardian

Powers of guardianship and trusteeship authorities

1. The powers of the guardianship and trusteeship authorities include: 1) identification and registration of citizens who need to establish guardianship or trusteeship over them; 2) applying to the court to recognize a citizen as incompetent or to limit his legal capacity, as well as to recognize a ward as capable if the grounds on which the citizen was declared incompetent or was limited in his legal capacity no longer exist; 3) establishment of guardianship or trusteeship; 4) exercising supervision over the activities of guardians and trustees, the activities of organizations in which incompetent or partially incompetent citizens are placed; 5) release and removal in accordance with this Federal Law of guardians and trustees from the performance of their duties; 6) issuance, in accordance with this Federal Law, of permits to carry out transactions with the property of wards; 7) conclusion of trust management agreements for the property of wards in accordance with Article 38 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation; representation of the legitimate interests of minors and incapacitated citizens under guardianship or trusteeship in relations with any persons (including in the courts), if the actions of guardians or trustees to represent the legitimate interests of wards contradict the legislation of the Russian Federation and (or) the legislation of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation or the interests of the wards or if the guardians or trustees do not protect the legitimate interests of the wards; 9) issuance of permission for the separation of trustees and their minor wards in accordance with Article 36 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation; 10) selection, registration and preparation, in the manner determined by the Government of the Russian Federation, of citizens who have expressed a desire to become guardians or trustees or to accept children left without parental care into the family for upbringing in other forms established by family legislation; 11) checking the living conditions of wards, compliance by guardians and trustees with the rights and legitimate interests of wards, ensuring the safety of their property, as well as the fulfillment by guardians and trustees of the requirements for the exercise of their rights and the fulfillment of the duties of guardians or trustees, determined in accordance with Part 4 of Article 15 of this Federal law; 12) informing citizens who have expressed a desire to become guardians or trustees or to accept a child left without parental care to be raised in a family in other forms established by family legislation, about possible forms of placing a child in a family, about the features of certain forms of placing a child in a family, about the procedure preparation of documents necessary to establish guardianship or trusteeship or placement of children left without parental care into a family in other forms established by family legislation, as well as providing assistance in the preparation of such documents; 13) providing assistance to guardians and trustees of minor citizens in the implementation and protection of the rights of their wards. 2. Federal laws and laws of constituent entities of the Russian Federation may provide for other powers of guardianship and trusteeship bodies along with the powers specified in Part 1 of this article. 3. On issues arising in connection with the establishment, implementation and termination of guardianship or trusteeship, the guardianship and trusteeship authorities issue acts. These acts can be challenged by interested parties in court.

Presumption of capacity

The presumption of a citizen's legal capacity is valid until doubts arise regarding his mental state. If a person cannot fully account for his actions, and the competent authority, after conducting an examination established by law, confirms the fact that the citizen is not able to answer for his actions, he is declared incompetent.

The presumption of capacity refers to legal aspects. It can be refuted, it can be doubted. The meaning of the presumption is the effective protection of the rights and interests of the country's citizens, ensuring the stability of civil turnover, and protecting the interests of civil legal relations.

Civil capacity

Civil capacity directly depends on family and civil procedural capacity. For example, if we are talking about parents and their minor child, the latter is an incompetent person, and his legal capacity does not require compensation. If we take such legal relations as alimony obligations, the child will still be an incompetent person, but his legal capacity will have to be compensated by the actions of his parents.

In family law, as in civil law, the age of full legal capacity is 18 years. Based on these indicators, it can be argued that the onset of full legal capacity of a citizen under family and civil law is simultaneous.

Both of these categories have a significant impact on each other. If a citizen under 18 years of age gets married due to the lowering of the marriageable age, he automatically receives full legal capacity. This value also makes it possible to classify a citizen as a person with full civil responsibility. From this moment on, he must be fully responsible for all his actions.

Elements of capacity

Legal capacity includes the following elements:

Dealability. A citizen can make small transactions in everyday life, receive benefits free of charge, and manage small funds from the age of 6. From the age of 14, the range of possible transactions expands: a citizen can open deposits in banks, manage his earnings/income, and use copyrights (Article 26 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).
Tort. In criminal law, in some cases, citizens bear full responsibility for their actions from the age of 14, in administrative law - from 16, and in civil law - from 14 years. If a minor teenager over 14 years of age does not have enough personal funds or property to compensate for the harm caused, his parents bear financial responsibility. If parents do not want to pay, they must prove the absence of their guilt in what happened (Article 1074 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

Recognition of a citizen as incompetent

If a person is diagnosed with a mental disorder, and because of it he does not understand the significance of the actions he is performing, such a citizen may be declared incompetent.

From a legislative point of view, a person is recognized as incompetent only if both legal and medical criteria are met.

First, a forensic psychiatric examination must be carried out. Experts must assess the citizen’s awareness of the actions being taken and the ability to manage them. The commission does not have the right to give an opinion that the citizen is incompetent. Only the court has the right to make such a verdict.

A guardian is appointed for an incapacitated citizen, who is responsible for all the actions of his ward.

If the citizen recovers, a repeat forensic medical examination can be carried out and the conclusion can be applied to the court. The judge, having studied all the materials, can recognize the person as legally competent.