How to Annul a Marriage in Russia

Institute of marriage

Marriage is not just a beautiful ceremony taking place in a solemn atmosphere, but also one of the most important legal events in a person’s life. From the point of view of law, marriage is a legal fact that gives rise to the family and property rights of spouses and the accompanying responsibilities.

Due to its social significance, a marriage union is recognized and protected by the state only if it is registered as a civil act. Rights and obligations arise for the husband and wife from the moment the union is registered.

Formalization is necessary to ensure the rights of husband and wife in family and civil relations, as well as third parties entering into legal relations with them, to protect public interests and morality.

The future legal regime of the property of a man and a woman, mutual obligations to support each other, alimony rights, inheritance and much more are determined by the fact of marriage registration in the registry office.

Procedure

If there is at least one of the above circumstances, then in order to cancel the registration of the marriage, you should apply to the court at the place of residence of the defendant with a claim to declare the concluded union invalid.

All documents confirming the illegality of the marriage must be attached to the statement of claim.

Having considered the evidence, the court will make a decision, which within three days is sent to the relevant registry office, where the entry in the Civil Registration Book is cancelled.

USEFUL INFORMATION: How to register the birth of a child if the parents are not married?

Completion of this procedure means that the marriage did not lead to any legal consequences. That is, it will be considered that the marriage between these people did not exist at all.

Conditions for marriage

To get married, Russian citizens need to fulfill only two conditions:

reach the age at which the law allows marriage;
express voluntary consent.

Compliance with these requirements is checked by a registry office employee when accepting an application from the bride and groom. Consent is verified by the application itself, and age is verified using identity documents.

Marrying a foreigner on Russian territory has its own characteristics. In relation to a foreign spouse, his personal law applies, that is, the conditions under which he can start a family are determined by the law of the country of his citizenship.

However, circumstances preventing marriage are determined by Russian law. If he simultaneously holds Russian citizenship, then Russian rules apply. Several citizenships allow a foreigner to choose which right should be taken into account when formalizing family relations in our country.

The same rules apply when considering the issue of recognizing as illegitimate a union concluded with a foreign citizen.

Marriage age

The age limit for starting a family is primarily related to the acquisition of full legal capacity by a citizen, which occurs at eighteen years of age. Family is a responsibility, the need to take care of your spouse and enter into relationships with other people. All this is fully possible only if one has all the rights that belong to a citizen.

Therefore, it is officially prohibited to have a wedding before reaching adulthood.

Biology plays an important role in establishing a ban on marriages with or between minors. The reproductive function of a woman’s body is usually formed by the age of eighteen. Marital relationships can be platonic, but still involve intimate relationships, conceiving a child, and childbirth.

Setting the age for marriage protects not only the moral foundations of society, but also the health of women.

Family law is one of the branches of law in which customs play an important role. Therefore, the subjects of the federation are allowed at the legislative level to establish a younger age at which one can start a family.

However, lowering the age limit cannot be widespread and should only be allowed in exceptional cases and under special circumstances. At the federal level, a citizen who has reached the age of sixteen can start a family if there are good reasons and with the permission of local governments.

To summarize, the legislation provides for three ages for marriage:

eighteen years;
sixteen (if there are good reasons and with the permission of municipal authorities);
up to sixteen years of age (as an exception, if provided for by the law of the subject of the federation).

Nullity of marriage

In contrast to the conditions for concluding a family union, there are much more circumstances on the basis of which a marriage can be annulled. Partially they are associated with violation of the conditions of marriage, partially they have a completely different nature.

Lack of age or lack of consent of one of the spouses, that is, violation of the conditions of marriage, are grounds for declaring the marriage invalid.

Otherwise, why would they be introduced? How they could register a union with such violations is a separate question.

The Judicial Code names the following circumstances as additional grounds for recognizing the invalidity of a marriage (obstructive grounds):

the person has another registered marriage;
close relatives decided to start a family;
the adoptive parent decided to enter into a marriage relationship with the adopted child;
the bride or groom suffers from a mental disorder and is declared legally incompetent;
fictitiousness of the union.

A separate ground on which the interested spouse may demand that the marriage be declared invalid is fraud. Consisting in the fact that the future spouse hid from the other the presence of a sexual disease, HIV infection.

As can be seen from the above list, specific circumstances preventing the creation of a family union are established for the purpose of:

protection of property interests and morality (second marriage, union with an adoptive parent, close relative),
human health protection (marital age),
protection of individual rights (lack of consent).

We also recommend reading on this topic – When a marriage is declared invalid

How to annul a marriage in Russia?

Can a marriage be annulled one month after the wedding? Considering that a little time has passed since the painting, I would not want to go through a divorce. Further life together is impossible, and it practically never happened. What to do and where to go in such a situation? Thank you.

The Family Code of the Russian Federation does not contain a rule according to which annulment of a marriage is possible. To resolve this situation, there are the following options:

Recognition of marriage as invalid.
Dissolution of the concluded union.

Let's take a closer look at these methods.

Family law does not contain provisions on how a marriage can be annulled in Russia. Instead of this term, the concept of declaring a marriage invalid is used.

Invalid – that is, a prisoner with violations of the norms of the Family Code of the Russian Federation, including those with signs of being fictitious.

A fictitious marriage is a union of two people, concluded formally, to achieve any benefits, but without the desire to create a real family.

Invalidity can only be established in court.

The court recognizes the union as invalid from the date of its registration if any of the following circumstances existed at its conclusion:

lack of voluntary consent of one of the spouses;
both or one of the spouses has not reached the legal age of marriage;
the husband or wife is in another registered and not dissolved marriage;
spouses are close relatives in relation to each other;
the bride and groom are the adoptive parent and the adopted child;
one of the couple is declared incompetent by a court decision;
one of the spouses knew, but hid from the other the presence of diseases established by paragraph 3 of Art. 15 IC RF.

All documents confirming the illegality of the marriage must be attached to the statement of claim.

Having considered the evidence, the court will make a decision, which within three days is sent to the relevant registry office, where the entry in the Civil Registration Book is cancelled.

Completion of this procedure means that the marriage did not lead to any legal consequences. That is, it will be considered that the marriage between these people did not exist at all.

If the marriage was carried out according to all the rules, and the law was not violated, regardless of the duration, such a union cannot be annulled. It will have to be terminated according to the general procedure.

With the consent of both spouses, this can be done through the registry office. You must contact the appropriate civil registry office, pay the state fee and jointly submit an application for divorce.

If agreement cannot be reached, you will have to get a divorce in court. To do this, you need to draw up and file a divorce petition in court. If there is a property dispute, you can make demands for the division of all joint property in the same claim. The law also allows you to initiate the division of property in separate court proceedings.

Unfortunately, not everyone understands the intricacies of the law, and sometimes the question of how to annul a marriage is urgent and requires an immediate solution. We hope that our article will help you learn about all the nuances!

Marriage is not only a voluntary agreement to live together, but, first of all, a bilateral agreement that imposes a number of specific and equal obligations on both parties entering into it. The question of how to annul a marriage arises when one of the parties or even a third party has doubts about the legality of this agreement. In this case, certain legal consequences may occur.

See also: Change documents due to marriage

It must be said that the concept of “Annulment of marriage” is absent in the Family Code. According to the law, a marriage can be terminated, dissolved or declared invalid. In the case of an invalid marriage, one must be guided by the provisions of the fifth chapter of the Family Code.

When is a marriage considered invalid?

So, before we talk about how to annul a marriage, let's figure out under what circumstances we can talk about the invalidity of a family union. A marriage is declared invalid if it is concluded:

· between persons who are in an undissolved marriage (which is officially registered);

· with a person who was declared incompetent at the time of marriage;

· under the influence of deception;

· between minor citizens (in the absence of a decision from representatives of local authorities regarding lowering the marriageable age);

between the adopted person and the adoptive parent;

between close relatives.

A marriage can also be annulled quite quickly if one of the spouses hid from his other half the fact that he has HIV infection or a sexually transmitted disease. By the way, it is precisely such cases that the statute of limitations rule applies to. So you can annul the marriage within 1 year from the moment you become aware of your spouse’s illness.

1. First, you need to go to court at the defendant’s place of residence. You will need to not only leave the claim, but also pay a state fee. Do not forget to attach to your application documents and evidence that confirm the grounds for annulment of the marriage.

2. After this, the court reviews all your documents and makes a decision whether the marriage can be annulled. After this (if the decision is made in favor of the plaintiff), an extract is issued within three days, with which you need to go to the registry office where your marriage was concluded. Show the extract to his employees, and they will make appropriate notes about the invalidity of the marriage in your documents and in their records.

Important information

1. Annulment and divorce are not the same thing. An annulled marriage is considered non-existent, while a dissolved marriage is simply considered terminated, but the fact of its existence remains.

2. If the marriage is declared invalid, the spouses lose the right to use a common surname, cannot claim each other’s inheritance, alimony payments, etc.

Instead of this term, the concept of declaring a marriage invalid is used. Invalid – that is, a prisoner with violations of the norms of the Family Code of the Russian Federation, including those with signs of being fictitious. A fictitious marriage is a union of two people, concluded formally, to achieve any benefits, but without the desire to create a real family. Invalidity can only be established in court.

Important

The following reasons may be grounds for recognizing a marriage union as fictitious and leading to its annulment:

If it is established that the couple did not marry with the aim of creating a full-fledged family;
If the marriage is concluded with a minor without permission from the guardianship council;
If the marriage itself was concluded under pressure from one of the parties or through deception, misrepresentation for the purpose (without it) of personal gain;
If either party was officially married at that time;
If the insanity (incapacity) of one of the parties is proven at the time of marriage registration.

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The prosecutor can challenge such points if he has evidence of the invalidity of such a union.

Annulment of marriage

A marriage can also be annulled quite quickly if one of the spouses hid from his other half the fact that he has HIV infection or a sexually transmitted disease.

By the way, it is precisely such cases that the statute of limitations rule applies to.

Info

So you can annul the marriage within 1 year from the moment you become aware of your spouse’s illness.

You will need to not only leave the claim, but also pay a state fee. Do not forget to attach to your application documents and evidence that confirm the grounds for annulment of the marriage. 2.

Attention

After this, the court reviews all your documents and makes a decision whether the marriage can be annulled.

Annulment of marriage in Russia

The court recognizes the union as invalid from the date of its registration if any of the following circumstances existed at its conclusion:

lack of voluntary consent of one of the spouses;
both or one of the spouses has not reached the legal age of marriage;
the husband or wife is in another registered and not dissolved marriage;
spouses are close relatives in relation to each other;
the bride and groom are the adoptive parent and the adopted child;
one of the couple is declared incompetent by a court decision;
one of the spouses knew, but hid from the other the presence of diseases established by paragraph 3 of Art.

Olga Tryastina, HELLO. Annulment of a marriage means declaring it invalid based on a court decision. To go to court with such a request, you must have weighty arguments that are written out in the Family Code of the Russian Federation. Otherwise, you will have to dissolve your union through divorce proceedings.

In accordance with Art. 27 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation “1. A marriage is declared invalid if the conditions established by the articles of the RF IC are violated, as well as in the case of a fictitious marriage, that is, if the spouses or one of them registered a marriage without the intention of starting a family.2. The marriage is declared invalid by the court.3. The court is obliged, within three days from the date of entry into legal force of the court decision to recognize the marriage as invalid, to send an extract from this court decision to the civil registry office at the place of state registration of the marriage.”4.

If it is clearly proven in court that this reason has already been eliminated, the union can be recognized as completely legal and valid.

The court may also reject a claim to recognize a marriage as fictitious if:

It was established that by the time of the hearing the couple had already created a full-fledged family;
If this is contrary to the interests of the minor himself, it worsens his life;
The minor himself interferes and does not give his consent.

Consequences of invalidity of marriage Any consequences in cases where a marriage is declared fictitious do not apply to children. Even if the union is declared invalid, the obligations towards the children remain fully intact.

Also, the spouse who suffered has the right not to change the surname he chose during registration.

The property that has been acquired is not divided as in an ordinary family.

Once upon a time, marriage was considered an almost sacred sacrament; it was approached with all consciousness and responsibility. Now there is the concept of fictitious marriages, which are entered into consciously, under the pressure of certain circumstances, and are immediately recognized as invalid, due to a violation of the principle of legality, the conditions prescribed by Articles 12-15 of the RF IC.

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The legality of such a marriage can be determined or annulled only by a court decision. A close relative who has documentary evidence of invalidity can apply to the court (in his/her district) with such a claim.

Next, a decision is made based on the data provided. To reach a verdict, the court has the right to request and demand any evidence, certificates and documentation.

At the request of the court, independent experts from any field may be brought in to confirm or exclude the reason.

If a decision is made to annul the marriage, then within three days the appropriate entry must appear in the act of the registry office that carried out the registration. If the marriage is annulled, then all actions, for example, the disposal of property, may also be considered invalid and result in punishment (criminal, administrative).

All grounds that could lead to the recognition of a union as invalid are contained in detail in Articles 12-14 of the RF IC.

The following reasons may be grounds for recognizing a marriage union as fictitious and leading to its annulment:

If it is established that the couple did not marry with the aim of creating a full-fledged family;
If the marriage is concluded with a minor without permission from the guardianship council;
If the marriage itself was concluded under pressure from one of the parties or through deception, misrepresentation for the purpose (without it) of personal gain;
If either party was officially married at that time;
If the insanity (incapacity) of one of the parties is proven at the time of marriage registration.

The prosecutor can challenge such points if he has evidence of the invalidity of such a union. The second spouse can also initiate the process of recognizing a marriage as fictitious if he was not notified of the presence of reasons that prevented its conclusion. If we are talking about an insane and incompetent person, then his guardian can file a petition with the court.

The judicial system is structured in such a way that there is nothing clear about it. That is why the same circumstances can be assessed by the court and interpreted differently. In particular, the court is guided by the circumstances and those facts that remain in force at the time of the hearing.

Thus, it is possible to declare a marriage invalid due to minority status if at the time of the court hearing one of the spouses is under 18 years of age. However, if by this time the age has reached the age of majority, then the claim is rejected due to the elimination of the invalidity factor.

This applies to any reason that is given to the court as an argument that the marriage is fictitious. If it is clearly proven in court that this reason has already been eliminated, the union can be recognized as completely legal and valid.

The court may also reject a claim to recognize a marriage as fictitious if:

It was established that by the time of the hearing the couple had already created a full-fledged family;
If this is contrary to the interests of the minor himself, it worsens his life;
The minor himself interferes and does not give his consent.

Any consequences in cases where a marriage is declared fictitious do not apply to children. Even if the union is declared invalid, the obligations towards the children remain fully intact. Also, the spouse who suffered has the right not to change the surname he chose during registration.

The property that has been acquired is not divided as in an ordinary family. The marriage contract, if it exists, is invalid and must be annulled.

Interested parties in the requirements for annulment of marriage

The Family Code clearly defines the person who has the right to apply to a judicial institution to demand the annulment of a marriage. The circle of such persons depends on the basis of the demand for recognition of the union as illegitimate.

A request to annul a union entered into before reaching the age of marriage may be filed with the court by:

a husband or wife who did not meet this requirement at the time of marriage registration;
their parents or persons in loco parentis, the prosecutor and the guardianship authority, if the person concerned is under eighteen years of age at the time of the application.

A citizen whose rights have been affected, as well as a prosecutor, can annul a family relationship that has arisen contrary to the actual will of a person.

Lack of will may be obvious. Formal consent can be obtained as a result of the use of violence (other coercion), deception, or the creation of a false impression of the event.

“Yes,” said by a person who is at that moment in a state that does not allow him to understand the meaning of what is happening and control his own actions, is not recognized as consent.

An application for annulment of a marriage committed under circumstances prohibiting its registration may be made by:

a husband or wife who did not know about them;
guardian of an incapacitated husband or incompetent wife;
husband or wife from a previous marriage;
other persons whose rights are violated by such a union;
guardianship;
prosecutor.

Authority considering the request for annulment of marriage

As noted above, marriage registration is carried out administratively, by the registry office. Recognition of a union as invalid is possible only in court. The claim must be filed in court at the location of the other spouse - the defendant. The statute of limitations does not apply to this category of cases.

The case is being considered as a claim proceeding. An extract from the decision to declare the union invalid is sent by the court to the registry office.

Cancellation of a divorce through the registry office

Family legislation in every possible way protects the units of society from premature disintegration. On the day of application, the registry office employees will not divorce even the most scandalous couple. After submitting the application, the spouses have a whole month to think about their decision. Under no circumstances can this period be reduced. During the entire period, the couple can withdraw the application, and the marriage will be saved. However, unfortunately, it will not be possible to return the paid state fee for applying to the registry office.

Recognize the marriage as valid or invalid

The mere presence and proof of circumstances that are grounds for recognizing a marriage as illegitimate, in certain cases, does not entail the annulment of the union.

If the circumstances no longer exist, the judge may recognize the union as valid. In the interests of a minor spouse, a marriage contract concluded in violation of the age limit may be preserved.

The desire of the minor to preserve the family will also give grounds for the judge to recognize the marital relationship as valid. The actual creation of a family makes it impossible to cancel a fictitious marriage.

A divorced marriage cannot be annulled. But unions between close relatives, bigamy and bigamy, in order to protect public interests, can be annulled even after the dissolution of such marriages.

Consequences of invalid marriage

Unlike the dissolution of a marriage, the consequence of which is the preservation of certain rights and obligations for the former spouses, the invalidity of a marriage does not entail the preservation of any family rights. Moreover, an invalid union does not give rise to them, that is, the legal status of the former spouses is, as it were, restored at the time of premarital relations.

Jointly acquired property passes from the regime of common property of spouses to the regime of shared property. If a marriage contract has been concluded, it is declared invalid.

At the same time, the insurance company provides a number of preferences to a conscientious spouse.

Firstly, the court has the right to award him maintenance from his ex-spouse.
Secondly, the judge can divide the common property according to the rules established by the Investigative Committee.
Thirdly, the judge has the right to partially or fully preserve the provisions of the marriage contract in the interests of the conscientious spouse.
Fourthly, the spouse can keep the surname received during marriage registration.
Fifthly, the “injured” party has the right to demand compensation for moral and material damage from the unscrupulous spouse.

The annulment of a marriage does not affect the rights of children born into it. A child born before the expiration of three hundred days from the date of annulment of the union is considered to be born during the marriage relationship and fully enjoys the rights granted to him.

Since parental rights and responsibilities are not related to the fact of registration of a marriage, declaring it invalid does not affect the rights and responsibilities of former spouses in relation to their common children.

The marriage union is annulled from the date of its conclusion.

The procedure for recognizing a marriage as invalid

It is possible to recognize a marriage as invalid only in court, and this presupposes compliance with all judicial procedures. Submitting a claim by an interested party.

Set of documents

The claim itself must be accompanied by

all available documents confirming the fact of the invalidity of the marriage,
a receipt for payment of state duty in the amount of 300 rubles,
copies of spouses' passports
copy of marriage certificate
copies of children's birth certificates, if available.

Notification of the defendant and plaintiff about the time and place of the court hearing

If necessary, guardianship and trusteeship authorities, as well as guardians of incapacitated persons, are included in the notice of the process. The party filing the claim is obliged to provide all evidence it has of the illegality of the marriage.

After the decision to annul the marriage is made

The union of the spouses is recognized as false and all legal rights and obligations of the spouses are also annulled. For example, alimony payments may be canceled if the marriage is declared invalid. The division of property after the annulment of a marriage occurs according to the norms not of the Insurance Code, but of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, that is, in proportion to the funds invested in the acquisition of property. What was purchased with the spouse’s funds goes to the spouse; what was purchased with the spouse’s funds goes to her.

Property division

All jointly acquired property is divided in proportion to the funds spent, one of the spouses receives the property itself, the other receives compensation for the invested funds. After the court decision to annul the marriage comes into force, a copy of this decision is sent within 10 days to the registry office where the marriage was registered.

The injured party has the right

For the collection of alimony under Articles 90 and 91 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation,
For compensation for moral and material damage,
To preserve the surname.