Trud-Center

Is it worth concluding a prenuptial agreement?

In order to regulate the relationship regarding any property that is already owned by citizens and property that is planned to be acquired during marriage, it is necessary to draw up a marriage contract.

The contract is especially important in order to provide the spouses in the event of a divorce with a planned procedure for dividing property without the participation of the court and proceedings, which do not help divide property faster, but complicate the life of the spouses in the event of a divorce.

For a more detailed understanding of all the advantages of marriage, it is necessary to study the following life circumstances.

If the spouse, before entering into an official marriage, already owns an apartment, which he wants to keep for himself, without transferring this property into common property acquired during the marriage.

In such a situation, difficulty arises, since it is often necessary to expand the living space as the number of people in the family increases; the spouse decides to sell personal property, and with the proceeds from the sale after paying tax, purchase a new apartment, or use the funds to take out a mortgage, or other option of using funds to purchase new real estate.

If the transaction is completed at one time by sequentially concluding first an agreement for the sale of property belonging to the spouse, then completing the purchase of the property using exclusively funds from the sale of the apartment, then the ownership of the new housing will belong to the owner of the previous property.

But does this happen in practice? No, as a rule, it is impossible to carry out both transactions on the same day, and it is very difficult to prove that the funds used from the sale of a home were used without the participation of funds from the other spouse to purchase a new home.

It will be even more unpleasant for the owner of the sold property if, in the event of a divorce, the property is divided according to the law based on the principle of equal division of all jointly acquired property; as a result, the spouse who bought the apartment will receive only half of its value!

All this is a reality for citizens if they do not enter into a marriage contract, otherwise the contract will stipulate that the property of the spouses acquired before marriage is their full personal property and is recorded in the contract as the separate property of the spouses. During a divorce, property classified as separate property is not subject to division between spouses.

This greatly helps to protect the interests of spouses who have personal property, who want to dispose of it fully both during marriage and after divorce, without fear of losing it.

Another situation, no less clearly reflecting the advantage of concluding a marriage contract, is expressed in the fact that one spouse is most often the main source of cash income in the family, the second spouse either earns significantly less, or, in general, does not earn money, but is engaged in performing no less important tasks. obligations regarding the home or household of the spouses.

In the event of a divorce and the absence of a marriage contract on the basis of the RF IC, all property of the spouses, including income, during the divorce will be divided between the spouses in half. Many consider such a system to be unfair, however, everyone has the right in a marriage contract to secure rights to personal income, which will be recognized as separate property and to which the second spouse will not claim in the event of a divorce.

In the marriage contract, it is possible to draw up a list of property, indicating that its sole owner is one of the spouses, who used his knowledge and talents to acquire the specified property.

In addition to the above, based on the clauses of the marriage contract, it can be stated that of the property that is only planned to be acquired by the spouses during marriage, which of the spouses will rightfully belong to it, while all family members will be able to use such property, but the right to dispose of it will only belong to those who in whose personal property the things or real estate are located.

The list of property, non-property rights and real estate objects specified in the marriage contract that were acquired with the funds of one spouse are excluded from the concept of jointly acquired property and are not subject to division in the event of divorce.

The most serious problem is the topic of loans and debt obligations that spouses take on while in a premarital relationship. If a spouse took out a loan and spent even ten rubles from this loan for the common good of the family, then the entire loan is recognized as jointly acquired property and after a divorce, the obligation to repay it is divided between both spouses.

If the agreement contains a clause regulating the issue of the occurrence and further repayment of loans, which contains a list of debts and loans of the spouses taken for personal needs, which they agree and confirm, then after a divorce the debts of such citizens are not subject to equal division between the spouses. This clause seriously ensures security for both parties to the marriage contract, allows you to deal with loans in advance, regulating issues regarding the division of debt, and creating a procedure for returning money to those who borrowed funds under an agreement with creditors.

Based on the several examples given above in the text, we can conclude that a marriage contract allows you to regulate almost all existing issues of distribution and division of property, and regulate the procedures in advance by mutual agreement of the parties, which will save money and time, eliminating the need to go to court.

Contents of a prenuptial agreement in 2021

In order to completely eliminate the possibility of recognizing part or all of the contract as invalid, as well as to avoid the emergence of conflicts and controversial situations, when drawing up the text of the agreement, it is necessary to be guided by the provisions of the RF IC and the RF Civil Code.

It is worth noting that the marriage agreement defines exclusively property relations and not personal ones. Citizens who wish to get married act as subjects of this contract!

Content requirements

The text of the agreement should be easy to read. At the same time, you can arrange it in any way that can ensure the further safety of the document. For example, it is not allowed to use a pencil when writing text.

The wording in the text should not have “hidden subtext” or ambiguity. All names of enterprises and organizations, addresses, as well as full names must be spelled out at least once in the text of the contract, without abbreviations, in full.
Amounts and terms must be recorded in words and figures.
The text should not contain erasures, corrections, additions, etc.
Both parties must sign the contract in person, unless the parties to the agreement have a physical disability or illness that prevents them from signing. In this case, a representative of the party is allowed to sign. At the same time, the notary must make an appropriate note about the reason for this.

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How to fill out a marriage contract

In order to fully understand the purpose of a marriage contract, you need to understand the fact that the contract regulates conditions of an exclusively property nature; the contract cannot contain other conditions, reasons and circumstances for their implementation as part of the document.

What else can a marriage contract contain, and what points must be present in any contract:

Any agreement that is drawn up as a marriage agreement must be in writing and without errors, after checking for compliance with the law, the notary must sign;
The agreement is considered a marriage contract only from the moment of official marriage of the citizens who entered into this agreement; the paper confirming the marriage must be in the hands of the parties to the marriage contract;
A marriage contract is considered an official document from the moment the notary puts a certification signature on it, since after signing the document, the notary enters it into the unified register if the spouses are already married;
Any changes to the marriage contract appear with the consent of the parties, the formulation of the wording of the changes on paper and the inclusion of new text in the contract with notarization and certification of all three parties, and a note is made to the contract stating when and for what reasons changes were made to the text of the document ;
The conditions for unilaterally terminating a marriage contract after the expiration of the contract for other reasons are necessarily specified in the text of the contract and have no exceptions, otherwise it will be possible to terminate the marriage contract only through the judicial procedure of proving the reasons for the dissolution and termination of the marriage contract;
The contract must not contain conditions, provisions, clauses, or circumstances that are prohibited from application within the framework of a marriage contract, otherwise the contract will be considered void.

So, with the help of a marriage contract, you can divide property between the spouses by making lists of the parties’ separate property, draw up a list of property that already exists or will be acquired for the use and property of the family, pre-register all items and things that will be personal for a particular spouse in the event division of property, it is possible to create a list of things that will be divided by law on an equal basis between spouses after the divorce procedure.

It is very important to describe in detail all the property for which the property regime has been chosen; the more detailed the lists are compiled, the easier it will be to distribute the property between the spouses, since the document must directly indicate opposite the name of the thing or object who will own it after the divorce.

It is very valuable to be able to distribute the payments of the spouses’ debts that they took on for personal needs, to clearly state which debts are common and are subject to division into shares, if there is such a desire and it is formalized in the agreement, or divided in half in accordance with the law.

The procedure for mutual assistance in paying off debts that are the personal obligation of each spouse is determined; this is only possible with the help of a contract.

All issues in relation to any property and property that is already in the possession and use of the spouses, possibly acquired during the marriage, are streamlined and systematized solely through the marriage contract. The full importance of this document can be appreciated only after the divorce procedure, when you do not have to prove the case to each spouse in the fight for all objects and objects of property.

In order for all of the above to be drawn up in a document, you need to know what such a document is made of.

The main components of the structure of a marriage contract:

Introduction, introductory component of the document: Be sure to indicate the name of the document being drawn up so that the words marriage contract are written in the title;
Indicate the city in which the marriage contract is concluded;
The exact date of entry of the document into the notary register;
Passport details of the parties entering into a marriage contract;
The reason and purpose of the contract, the motivation for its conclusion, the need that needs to be put on paper.

The main component of the contract, which includes sections, subsections, clauses and additional comments on the described relations of the spouses on issues of property and property acquired before and during marriage.

The main part is the most voluminous in the document and consists of the following mandatory components:

The differentiation of property into the categories of separate property and jointly acquired property. The options for distributing a particular type and type of property between spouses are unlimited. A husband and wife have the right to attach all real estate, all jewelry and art objects to separate property, and household items or objects to jointly acquired property. Spouses can give each item in detail the status of a certain category of property according to their own mutual desire. It is important to understand that the distribution of property rights between spouses is not random, and depending on who acquired the property or on whose use the things were purchased, in order to make it easier to distribute the acquired property, or acquired in the future, it is necessary to make lists with a detailed description all properties and characteristics of objects to be distributed;

An essential point touches on the problem of determining the amount of spousal support in various life situations, in the event of unforeseen circumstances or due to force majeure events that can happen to each spouse. It is necessary to determine the amount of maintenance, the form of payment, the currency of payment, the period when payments from one spouse in favor of the other will stop;
It is important for both spouses to state in advance in the marriage contract who earns how much, and what sources of income each spouse has. This is necessary in order to allocate part of the spouses’ monetary income to personal income, or even better, to determine the amounts that will be considered jointly acquired income on each side;
The most important, according to many lawyers, is the regulation of expenses and expenses during family life. Spouses must clearly understand that dividing income and property is not so difficult, but it is important to differentiate and comply with the terms of spending and expenses for personal needs or family needs. If you correctly distribute utility bills, expenses for maintaining property, apartments, repairs, food costs, then you can clearly plan the family budget and allocate funds for savings in the family fund. It must be borne in mind that it is impossible to completely transfer the costs of maintaining a family, incurring expenses for education, recreation, purchasing clothes and other necessary things to one person, since, otherwise, the payer for all bills will have the right to prove ownership of everything, what he paid;

It is necessary to distribute debts and loans within the family. The most important thing to do is to divide all credit and other debts of each family member into personal debts and family debt obligations. This is important, since all debts in the family, which are classified as general debts, will need to be paid, in any case, regardless of who will pay off the debts: the one who took out the debt, or the spouse of this citizen. It is necessary to highlight the obligations of each spouse, for which he must be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law as for personal debt obligations, or to determine the parts for which the spouses will pay off the common debts of the family;

Completion is always present in any contract, where the results are summed up and the parties who entered into the agreement are determined.

Pros and cons of a prenuptial agreement.

What conditions can be included in a marriage contract, read here.

Forms and samples

Download a completed sample marriage contract

Download a blank sample marriage contract

We recommend that you download the standard template proposed by our lawyers, and then use it as a draft agreement, modifying it to suit your information. In addition, by clicking on the first link, you can save a photo of the marriage contract of one of the most famous couples in Russia.

How the contract is concluded in 2021

The signing of a marriage agreement is an exclusively voluntary procedure, formed when an agreement and the desire of future or current spouses arise. That is, any influence of third parties and external factors, coercion to draw up and sign, as well as pressure on one of the parties is completely unacceptable!

At the same time, the fact of signing is not a prerequisite for the newlyweds to enter into marriage.

Note

If both parties have come to a common decision to sign a marriage contract in the Russian Federation, then they should first decide on the subject, and then together draw up the text of the contract itself, the content of which is written in Article 42 of the RF IC.

In addition, we recommend paying attention to Article 44 - this will help to exclude cases of invalidation of the agreement.

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Then you need to collect and prepare (make copies, certify, etc.) a package of papers, checking the required list with the notary. We also recommend that you later look at our new article about the possibility of guardianship of an elderly person after 80 years of age!

Required documents

So, to sign the agreement you need the following basic package of documents :

passports of both parties;
papers that confirm the right to real and movable property of both parties, statements of shares in an LLC or ownership of shares, etc.;
marriage certificate (if the parties are married);
all available receipts for payment of notary services and fees (experienced lawyers recommend finding out this information in advance, because it can vary significantly depending on: the costs of the notary’s work, the content of the contract itself and the location of the notary).

Sometimes the notary may also request additional documents. Usually, this happens if he has doubts about the authenticity of the documents provided and the reliability of the information provided.

Expert opinion

Oleg Ustinov

Practicing lawyer, author of the website “Legal Ambulance”, one of the co-founders of the “Our Future” foundation.

Remember that visiting a notary to certify a document is a mandatory part of the procedure for signing a marriage agreement.

The contract document is signed by each party personally in three or four copies, one of which remains in the archive, and the rest are distributed to the parties. At the same time, it is not allowed for representatives to sign a marriage contract, except in situations where one of the spouses is unable to sign due to a physical disability or illness.

The direct responsibility of the notary is to explain the general meaning of the agreement being signed in order to once again make sure that both parties understand their obligations and rights. At the same time, the notary is obliged to read the text of the agreement, and only then certify it.

Example of a completed marriage contract

A marriage contract is a voluminous document and includes many mandatory clauses and parameters that must be filled out correctly and without errors. For those who do not have experience working with documentation, such a task may be overwhelming.

To understand the intricacies of the contract, you need to familiarize yourself with the ready-made image of the marriage contract, in which the data has already been entered into the fields.

MARRIAGE CONTRACT

Kazan February 13, 2021

Citizen of the Russian Federation Soloviev Igor Viktorovich (last name, first name, patronymic) and

citizen of the Russian Federation Gulina Veronika Petrovna (last name, first name, patronymic), hereinafter referred to as “Spouses”, voluntarily, by mutual consent, entering into marriage in order to settle mutual property rights and obligations, both in marriage and in the event of its dissolution, entered into This marriage contract stipulates as follows:

1. THE SUBJECT OF THE AGREEMENT

1.1. The spouses agree that all property acquired jointly by the spouses during marriage, regardless of whose income it was acquired with, will be subject to the regime of joint ownership. For certain types of property specifically specified in this agreement or an addendum to it, a different regime may be established.

1.2. Property that belonged to each of the spouses before marriage, as well as property received by one of the spouses during marriage as a gift, by inheritance or through other gratuitous transactions, is his property.

1.3. By the time of the conclusion of this agreement, Mr. Solovyov Igor Viktorovich

owns the following property:

apartment with a total area of 86 sq. meters, located at the address: Russia, Kazan, st. Vikhareva, house 34, building 3, apartment 15;
car VAZ 2110, engine No. 688475634, body No. 688475634, state number E547MU43, registered in the Kirov region;
pieces of furniture according to the list attached to the contract;
gold and silver jewelry, as well as jewelry made of precious and semi-precious stones according to the list attached to the contract;
garage for a car, located at Russia, Kazan, st. Vikhareva, house 34, building 1
Gr. At the time of concluding this agreement, Veronica Petrovna Gulina owns the following property:
TV "Sony" black 48-inch diagonal with \n 524862430875432;
Refrigerator "Stinol" white with dimensions 180x90x80 cm c/n 574598480;
Washing machine “Candy” white s\n dg65763-49589;
Steamer "Tefal" lilac s\n 53-405872.

1.4. Common property acquired during marriage includes the income of each spouse from labor activity, entrepreneurial activity and the results of intellectual activity, pensions received by them, benefits and other monetary payments that do not have a special purpose. Possession and use of common property is carried out by mutual agreement.

1.5. The right to common property also belongs to the spouse who, during the marriage, managed the household, cared for children, or for other valid reasons did not have independent income.

1.6. Items for personal use (clothing, shoes and others), with the exception of jewelry and other luxury items, although acquired during the marriage at the expense of the spouses’ common funds, are recognized as the property of the spouse who used them.

1.7. Income for special purposes (amounts of financial assistance, amounts paid in compensation for damage due to loss of ability to work due to injury or other damage to health, etc.) is recognized as the property of the spouse to whom they are paid.

1.8. Spouses have the right to dispose of common property by mutual consent. The consent of a spouse to the other spouse completing a transaction with common property is assumed if the other spouse does not express objections to the transaction before it is completed. To carry out transactions with real estate (including apartments, residential and non-residential premises, land plots, etc.), vehicles and other property, transactions with which are subject to notarization or state registration, the prior written consent of the other spouse is required.

If a transaction by agreement of the parties or by force of law is made in notarial form, the consent of the other spouse to carry out such a transaction must also be notarized. The prior written consent of the other spouse is required when alienating and acquiring property if the transaction amount exceeds 40 thousand (forty thousand) rubles, regardless of the type of property in respect of which the transaction is being made.

1.9. At any time during the marriage, the spouses, by mutual agreement, have the right to change the regime of joint ownership established by this agreement.

2. RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF SPOUSES

2.1. Each spouse is obliged to take proper care of joint property and property belonging to the other spouse, to take all necessary measures to prevent destruction or damage to property, as well as to eliminate the threat of destruction or damage, including making necessary expenses both at the expense of common funds , and from other income.

Each spouse is obliged to respect the rights and legitimate interests of the other spouse established by this marriage contract and the law, both during marriage and after its dissolution,

2.2. Spouses are required to refrain from entering into risky transactions. Risky transactions are understood as transactions, failure to fulfill obligations under which may lead to the loss of a significant part of the joint property or to a significant reduction in the income of the spouses.

2.3. Each spouse has the right to use the property of the other spouse that belonged to him before marriage, in accordance with the purpose of the property.

2.4. During the marriage, each spouse has the right to dispose of the property that belonged to him before marriage at his own discretion. However, the spouses recognize income from such transactions as common joint property.

2.5. Each spouse is obliged to notify his or her creditor(s) of the conclusion, amendment or termination of this marriage contract.

2.6. In the event of divorce, property that belonged to the spouses before marriage is not included in the amount of property subject to division.

2.7. Upon divorce, common property is subject to division in equal shares.

3. RESPONSIBILITY OF SPOUSES

3.1 Each of the spouses is responsible for the obligations assumed to creditors within the limits of the property owned by him. If this property is insufficient, the creditor has the right to demand the allocation of the share of the debtor spouse, which would be due to the debtor spouse during the division of common property, in order to foreclose on it.

3.2. A spouse is not liable for transactions made by the other spouse without his consent.

3.3. The common property can be foreclosed on only for the common obligations of the spouses. If this property is insufficient, the spouses bear joint liability with their property for these obligations.

3.4. The liability of spouses for damage caused by their minor children is determined by Civil Law.

4. ENTRY INTO FORCE, AMENDMENT AND TERMINATION OF THE AGREEMENT

4.1. This agreement comes into force on the date of state registration of marriage.

4.2. This agreement is subject to notarization.

4.3. The contract is terminated at the moment of state registration of divorce.

4.4. Spouses have the right to make changes and additions to this agreement at any time. Unilateral refusal to fulfill this agreement is not permitted.

4.5. All controversial issues that may arise during the validity of this agreement, if the spouses fail to reach an agreement, shall be resolved in court.

Signatures of the parties:

Gr. Soloviev Igor Viktorovich, passport: series 4456, No. 475234, issued by the Department of Internal Affairs of the city of Kazan, address: Russia, Kazan, st. Vikhareva, house 34, building 3, apartment 15

_______________Soloviev I.V.

Gr. Gulina Veronika Petrovna, passport: series 3344, No. 888564, issued by the Department of Internal Affairs of the city of Kazan, address: Russia, Kazan, st. Vikhareva, house 34, building 3, apartment 15

_______________Gulina V. P.

Arbitrage practice

The parties can submit an application for termination of the marriage contract if more than a year has not passed from the moment when they learned or were obliged to ascertain the violation of rights or the emergence of other reasons why the contract cannot be recognized as valid.

Situation 1

N. filed a claim in court that K. does not have the right to reside and use a residential property, indicating the reason. He is the owner of this residential premises, the marriage was officially dissolved, the ex-wife does not live in the property. K. filed a counterclaim on the need to divide the jointly acquired property and invalidate the previously concluded marriage contract. The statement indicated that she had previously lived with her husband in a civil marriage, and a house was purchased, but only then was their marriage officially registered.

After the residence began, other premises were added to the house. At the moment, the area of the residential property has become larger, and materials for the joint construction have been used up. When the construction was completed, N. refused to re-register the property in accordance with the law. During the court hearing, N. confirmed the provisions specified in the application, but proved that the plaintiff did not make the proper financial investments. Instead, the money for the construction was provided by his mother.

Taking into account the proposed evidence, the court ruled that the specific house is fully the property of citizen N. His rights are confirmed by the purchase and sale agreement, while the ownership was registered in the manner prescribed by law. According to the provision in the marriage contract, property that, when living together, is the property of the spouse in whose name it was registered. Citizen N.'s lawsuit was fully satisfied. His property remained with the legal owner, citizen N. was discharged from the house.

Situation 2

V. filed an application to invalidate the agreement on the division of jointly acquired property; she was not satisfied with the consequences of the transaction. Several apartments and land plots were to go unequally to her and her ex-husband.

The terms of the marriage contract were extremely unfavorable for the plaintiff, since the property of residential properties that were registered in the husband’s name was several times higher than the value of the property allocated to the plaintiff.

By a court decision, the transaction was declared invalid, since, under the terms of the marriage contract, the part of the property that was due to the husband was significantly larger than those objects that the spouses could divide equally.

The court ordered the ex-husband of citizen V. to compensate for the damage that was caused to the plaintiff during the sale of residential properties that belonged to him under the terms of the marriage contract, since it was also declared invalid.

Situation 3

L. applied to the court for the termination of the marriage contract due to the fact that the obligations to repay the borrowed money when concluding an agreement to reimburse the amount paid were not fulfilled.

It turned out that M. had previously borrowed 600,000 rubles from L., but the funds were not paid on time. According to the decision of the district court, M. had to pay the entire amount including interest, that is, 2,000,000 rubles, using her property. Later it turned out that a marriage contract would be concluded between the spouses, according to which all jointly acquired property belongs to citizen M.

When considering the above situation, the court came to the conclusion that there were no grounds for terminating the marriage contract. It is still not valid. The court's decision remained unchanged and the appeal was not satisfied. The obligation to repay the debt is imposed on the party that borrowed when concluding the relevant agreement.

A marriage contract may be declared invalid, but such decisions are rarely made by the court.

There must be compelling reasons that indicate the illegality of the transaction and the impossibility of its implementation. If there are no such grounds, the marriage contract must be executed in accordance with the conditions presented. Citizens have the right to challenge only those provisions that do not comply with the law, infringe the rights of one of the parties, and are also illegal in relation to third parties.

Photo of a completed sample marriage contract

For ease of comparison, when filling out the details of the marriage contract, you can use photos taken from a ready-made marriage contract.

Photo of the finished marriage contract: