Article 27 of the RF IC. Marriage annulment in 2021 Legal services

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Grounds for invalidating a marriage

To recognize a marriage relationship as invalid and annul the union through legal proceedings, the plaintiff’s desire alone will not be enough. Compelling legislative grounds will be required.

In accordance with the norms of family law, one of the following grounds can be used to declare a marriage invalid:

If one of the spouses entered into a marriage relationship not of their own free will (forced);
If all the signs of a fictitious marriage are present (the spouses initially entered into a union not for the purpose of creating a family, but in pursuit of personal interests, possibly selfish ones);
If one of the spouses at the time of the conclusion of the union was already in a registered marital relationship with another person and deliberately concealed this fact;
If the spouses are related;
If one of the spouses at the time of registration of the relationship was incapacitated due to mental illness;
If one of the spouses hid from the bride or groom the fact that he or she had HIV infection or a sexually transmitted disease.

The listed grounds are enshrined in Articles 12, 13, 14 and 15 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation, however, as practice has shown, there may be more reasons.

Please note! These include the following:

Change in gender of one of the spouses;
Entering into a marriage union for the purpose of taking possession of the spouse’s property;
Marriage for the purpose of obtaining citizenship or residence permit;
Other noteworthy reasons.

Since it is unrealistic to predict all possible life circumstances, the court becomes the last authority capable of resolving the conflict.

It is there, in conjunction with the evidence presented by the plaintiff, that the stated reasons can be accepted as sufficient to declare the marriage invalid.

Grounds for filing a claim

Russian legislation clearly defines situations in which a formalized marriage can be declared invalid. These include the following violations:

Lack of consent of at least one of the spouses.
The marriage is officially recognized as fictitious.
One of the spouses is under 18 years of age and there is no consent from the guardianship authorities. An application for annulment of a marriage can be filed by parents or representatives of government agencies.
One (or both) of the spouses is already in a marriage that took place outside the Russian Federation. This case is separately prescribed in Article 156 of the RF IC.
One of the spouses is officially declared incompetent.
There is a family connection between the spouses.

Read more: How to properly arrange the sale of an apartment in installments

Please note: according to Russian laws, the adopted person and the adoptive parent are also considered close relatives.

There was a concealment by one of the spouses of the fact of a venereal disease. When filing a claim to declare a marriage invalid in this case, it is necessary to have evidence that the second spouse was not aware of the presence of the disease. In some situations this can be difficult. If this fact cannot be proven, then the court will have no reason to consider the marital union invalid.

The circumstances described above must already exist at the time of marriage registration. Article 28 of the RF IC provides a list of persons who can file a claim.

Initiators of the procedure

According to the provisions of Article 28 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation, the following may act as plaintiffs in this category of civil cases:

A law-abiding spouse, if he has sufficient grounds to believe that the marriage is fictitious or contrary to the current norms of family law;
The legal representative or guardian of a spouse who has not reached the age of majority or has been declared incompetent;
The state, represented by the guardianship and trusteeship authorities, acting in the interests of the incapacitated or minor spouse;
Legal spouse from a previous undissolved marriage;
Bodies of the Prosecutor's Office, which during the inspection established the fact of violation of the rights of the spouse due to deception, coercion or other illegal actions of a citizen;
Citizens whose rights were violated as a result of marriage, for example, heirs of a deceased spouse.

Recognition of marriage as fictitious

The invalidity of such a union can only be recognized in court, although it is quite difficult to prove. The plaintiffs in this situation are usually third parties - parents, friends, etc.

d. If we talk about officials, then an employee of the guardianship authority (if the spouse is a minor) or a prosecutor, if this fact became known to him during the consideration of other cases, has the right to file a claim.

Spouses rarely act as plaintiffs. This usually happens if the second spouse does not fulfill his obligations or refuses to get a divorce at the registry office. But sometimes the husband or wife does not even suspect that the marriage is fictitious.

If the parties have common property, then the claim should be filed in the district court. The remaining disputes are considered by a magistrate. If such fictitious spouses have a common child, from a legal point of view their marriage is recognized as real.

It may be recognized as valid on other grounds. There are situations when other reasons for recognizing a marriage as fictitious have been eliminated. For example, the spouses began to live together and run a common household. And even if they only imitated life together, the court may regard this as confirmation of the legality of the marriage.

Claim and documents

To draw up a statement of claim, you may need legal assistance. Therefore, it is better to contact a lawyer experienced in handling such cases. He will be able not only to help with preparing a claim and the evidence base, but also to advise on other issues.

Limitation of actions

Claims for annulment of a marital relationship are not limited by the statute of limitations, which allows the injured party to file a claim at any time.

The only exceptions to the general rule are cases where the basis for declaring a marriage invalid is the spouse’s concealment of the fact that he has HIV infection.

In such circumstances, the claimant has a year from the date on which he became aware of the fatal disease to file a claim.

Watch the video. Who has the right to demand that a marriage be declared invalid:

Features of recognizing a fictitious marriage as invalid

The law provides for two cases of fictitious marriage:

both spouses did not want to start a family,
Only one of them did not pursue such a goal (then the second is recognized as a conscientious spouse).

The consequences of declaring a marriage invalid depend on the establishment of these circumstances. Therefore, in the claim it is important to indicate and prove whether the marriage was fictitious for both spouses. Or just for one of them.

In a statement of claim to declare a fictitious marriage invalid, it makes sense to include a description of the benefits that the spouse received. That is, why was marriage needed if not creating a family?

This could be receiving benefits (participation in housing programs), acquiring a new legal status (for example, citizenship), etc. The fictitiousness of a marriage can be proven with testimony.

Only separate residence does not indicate fictitiousness. Therefore, the plaintiff also proves lack of care, joint farming, etc.

Objection to a claim for invalidity of marriage

If the defendant has information that can refute the plaintiff’s arguments, the latter has the right to file an objection to the claim.

This is possible when the plaintiff has insufficient grounds or is not aware of the real state of affairs, for example, in the presence of the following circumstances:

The plaintiff did not know that at the time of marriage registration the previous union could be dissolved or terminated;
A spouse who is a carrier of HIV infection may not have known about the presence of the disease at the time of marriage;
At the time of registration of the union, the defendant had already reached the age of marriage.

Thus, the basis for filing an objection must be circumstances that can radically change the position of the judge and the plaintiff.

Who can apply for recognition of a marriage as fictitious?

A statement of claim may be filed by one of the spouses or the prosecutor if the following circumstances exist:

The spouse , if he found out that the second spouse initially did not intend to start a family, and there were selfish goals. Proving the fictitiousness of the marriage will be extremely problematic. Documents and witness statements will be required;
Prosecutor . For example, if during the inspection of an agency or person who, for a fee, brings people who want to enter into a fictitious marriage with “dummy” spouses. The information obtained about all registered relationships with the help of such intermediaries is the reason for further filing a statement of claim, where both spouses are defendants.

Important! If one of the spouses is declared incompetent at the time of applying to the court, a guardian or representative of the guardianship authority has the right to act on his behalf.

Court decision and legal consequences

In the absence of reasons for changing the deadlines, in accordance with Article 154 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, the application for recognition of the marriage as invalid is subject to consideration within two months.

After the decision is made, the parties are given a month to appeal the judicial act, after which, if the complaint is not received, the decision comes into force.

Please note! After the judicial act enters into legal force, the plaintiff can apply to the registry office, where the marriage registration record will be annulled. In this case, the union is considered invalid from the date of its conclusion.

Simultaneously with the annulment of the marriage, the rights and obligations of the spouses are canceled, and any claim to anything is considered an unlawful action.

The legal regime of the property of the spouses also loses its force. This means that from the moment the marriage is declared invalid, the concept of common property ceases to exist, and objects acquired during the marriage relationship remain the property of the person with whose funds they were acquired.

In exceptional cases, it is allowed to recognize property as jointly acquired, but this fact does not apply to the obligations of the spouses. Consequently, creditors have no right to demand repayment of the debt of one spouse at the expense of the property of the other.

If the spouses previously entered into a marriage contract, in some cases its validity is retained in full or in part (depending on whether the rights and interests of one of the spouses are infringed).

When a conflict between the parties affects other citizens or organizations, their interests cannot be violated as a result of the marriage being declared invalid.

In addition to the requirement to invalidate the marriage relationship, a conscientious spouse who has suffered from the actions of another has the right to demand compensation for moral and material damage, as well as payment of monthly maintenance.

The rights of children born in a marriage declared invalid continue to exist even after the union is annulled. This means that the child must receive maintenance, education, and also have the opportunity to communicate with each of the parents.

If the plaintiff goes to court and refers to the fictitiousness of the marriage, which subsequently grew into a real union, this basis is not sufficient to declare the marriage invalid. In such cases, only divorce is possible.

Consequences

If a union is declared invalid, the jointly acquired property is subject to division based on the provisions of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. A granted request to declare a marriage invalid does not have consequences for children who appeared in the marriage or will appear within 300 days from the announcement of the court decision.

The recognized invalidity of a marriage entails the following mandatory provisions without an additional court order:

renunciation of the right to bear a surname approved by state marriage;
cancellation of the rights of inheritance of the spouse’s property after his death;
refusal to pay maintenance in case of loss of a breadwinner;
cancellation of the right to use after the spouse moves into the living space.

Recognition of the invalidity of a marriage in court allows the spouses to be returned to the civil state in which they were before the conclusion of such a marriage.

Sample statement of claim for divorce