How to register a marriage at the registry office

For most people, a wedding means loud toasts, hundreds of guests and a cortege of decorated cars. But first of all, the celebration accompanies the registration of marriage. This is a legal action, without which a man and a woman will not be able to create an official and full-fledged family. However, not everyone knows where and how to contact. Many couples have questions that even the older generation cannot always answer, because legislation is constantly being amended. To understand the sequence of actions when registering a marriage, it is worth considering this topic in more detail.

2 Recording the marriage deed

2.1 Marriage certificate

3 Conditions for marriage in the Russian Federation

3.1 Are witnesses required when registering a marriage?

3.2 Video: marriage registration through the portal for the provision of public services to the population

4 Personal non-property and property rights of spouses

5 Questions and answers

Concept and rules for registering marriage in the Russian Federation

Marriage is a voluntary registration of family relationships. It gives rise to the rights and obligations of spouses. The basis for its registration is a statement by mutual consent of the spouses.

Marriage registration is not limited to the wedding celebration

Marriage is registered with the civil registry office.
Clause 1 of Article 10 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation

Application for marriage registration

The application for registration must be made in writing. It is important to provide the following information:

Full names of future spouses.
Dates of birth and age at the time of application.
Place of birth (as in the passport).
Citizenship.
Nationality (optional).
Location.
Passport data, including series and number.
Certificates of divorce from previous marriages, if this is not the first marriage.

You can submit an application and register a marriage at any registry office, and the department can be selected both according to the address of residence, and without having a registration. In some cases, when the bride and groom are from different cities, the application is submitted to the registry office at the address of one of the parties. For example, the groom lives in Moscow, and the bride in the Moscow region. The bride moved in with the groom before the wedding, so the application is submitted to any registry office at the actual address of the couple’s residence. If the first marriage was dissolved in the same department, then a divorce document is not needed, since the employees have this information. The form can be taken from the registry office and filled out on the spot, or prepared and printed in advance.

In addition to civil registry authorities, registration can be carried out by local government bodies (for example, a village council) or executive authorities. Moreover, Russian legislation does not oblige the submission of documents in accordance with the link to someone else’s place of registration.

For example, the bride and groom want to submit documents in another city. If there are no grounds for refusal, both have reached the age of majority and the state fee has been paid, the registry office cannot refuse to accept the application.

It is important to fill out all the fields in the marriage application

In addition to the application, other documents will be required:

Passports (originals).
Receipt for payment of state duty.
A document authorizing marriage (if at least one of the spouses is under 18 years old).
Certificate of divorce from a previous marriage.

In 2021, the fee for registering a marriage will be 350 rubles. The fee is paid once by either party. To make a payment, just contact a bank branch. Cashiers will provide a receipt form. But for this you need to know the details of the registry office.

Procedure for registering marriage

Marriage is concluded in the personal presence of the persons entering into marriage, after a month has passed from the date of their submission of an application to the civil registry office.
Clause 1 of Article 11 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation

Some couples applying for the first time, after announcing the appointed date, begin to argue with the registry office employee. Many people think that this month is due to the queue or other circumstances. In fact, a month-long period is defined by the state as a period for testing relationships. In addition, the bride and groom can prepare for the celebration during this time. However, sometimes there are circumstances that shorten this period.

If there are good reasons, the civil registry office at the place of state registration of marriage may allow marriage to be concluded before the expiration of a month, and may also increase this period, but not more than by a month. If there are special circumstances (pregnancy, birth of a child, threat to the life of one of the parties and other special circumstances), the marriage can be concluded on the day the application is submitted.
Article 11 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation

In some cases, marriage registration can be carried out immediately

In order for registration to take place on the day of application, you need to confirm the presence of valid reasons with the relevant documents:

during pregnancy - a certificate from the gynecologist who is seeing the pregnant woman;
at the birth of a child - a birth certificate (from the maternity hospital) or a birth certificate;
if life is threatened - a doctor’s conclusion (for example, one of the stages of a serious illness: injury incompatible with life, malignant tumor, etc.).

On the appointed day (or on the day of application), future spouses need to appear at the department where the application was submitted. The procedure itself takes place within 15–20 minutes. The employee observes all the necessary formalities: asks the consent of the bride and groom and declares them husband and wife. Also, during the registration procedure, the surnames of the spouses may change.

During the state registration of marriage for spouses, the common surname of the spouses or the premarital surname of each spouse is recorded in the entry on the marriage act at the choice of the spouses.
Article 28 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation

In accordance with Russian law, one of the spouses may be assigned the surname of the other spouse. In addition, spouses can combine their surnames. In this case, the surname will become double (hyphenated). This is often done by couples who want to have a common surname, but value their roots.

Conditions required for marriage registration

According to the rules of Art. 12 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation, in order to enter into a legal union, the following conditions must be met:

the presence of voluntary mutual consent of the couple to legalize the relationship;
the newlyweds reach a certain age.

If everything is clear with point 1, the only thing is that ignoring this requirement entails the invalidity of the marriage, then we should dwell in more detail on the marriageable age.

According to the general rule, paragraph 1 of Art. 13 of the RF IC, the minimum age for marriage is set at 18 years old - for boys and for girls. The rule also provides for exceptions. Thus, clause 2 provides for the possibility of registering a marriage in the registry office by persons who have reached the age of 16.

To do this you need:

obtain permission from local authorities (issued if there are compelling reasons to protect the interests of the future family);
statement of the young.

It is noteworthy that in special cases, a union can also be registered by a couple where 1 or both spouses have not reached 16 years of age, however, this opportunity is available only if there is a special law of the subject of the Russian Federation where the couple lives.

Minimum possible age for marriage in the regions:

Moscow, Vologda, Nizhny Novgorod, Belgorod, Kaluga regions - 14 years.
Murmansk, Chelyabinsk region - 15 years.

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In some areas, in addition to the necessary documents to lower the age of marriage, you must provide permission from the parents of the bride or groom to enter into a union, and if there are none, the guardianship and trusteeship authority.

Personal non-property and property rights of spouses

The rights and obligations of spouses arise from the date of state registration of marriage in the civil registry office.
Clause 2 of Article 10 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation

On the day of marriage registration, the property and non-property rights of the spouses arise.

Non-property types include the following:

the right to jointly resolve family life issues;
the right to give consent to the adoption of a child by the other spouse;
the right to divorce, etc.

Moreover, the presence of a right in one spouse gives rise to the presence of an obligation in the other. For example, one spouse has the right to give consent to the adoption of a child, while the other is obliged to ask permission, and vice versa. Property rights are of a different nature. Thus, all property of the spouses is divided into premarital and joint property. Property rights are divided into two types of legal relations:

property relations;
alimony relations (relations of mutual maintenance of spouses).

Property acquired by spouses while married is joint, and both spouses have equal rights to it. Spouses can enter into a prenuptial agreement and change the property regime. For example, according to the contract, the wife may own an apartment, and the husband may own a dacha and a car. Many couples, when registering a marriage, also draw up a prenuptial agreement, which guarantees the preservation of the interests of both spouses.

A marriage contract is one of the ways to guarantee the personal property rights of spouses

However, among the property acquired after marriage registration, some types of personal property are also distinguished:

personal items (clothing, cosmetics, personal hygiene items, etc.);
property acquired under gratuitous contracts (gift, inheritance, etc.).

In addition to rights, spouses have responsibilities not only to each other. Thus, when applying for a loan, spouses are required to notify their creditors about the marriage and the existence of a marriage contract. And also about any changes in the clauses of the marriage contract.

The creditor (creditors) of the debtor spouse has the right to demand changes in the terms or termination of the agreement concluded between them due to significantly changed circumstances in the manner established by Articles 451 - 453 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.
Clause 2 of Article 46 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation

Submitting an application - basic nuances

The basis for registering a family union is an application (Article 24 of the Federal Law on Acts of Civil Status) submitted by the couple in person, through a representative or electronically. The form of this paper can be obtained from the registry office, and it is also available for downloading on the portal of state and municipal services.

In accordance with the norm, the contents of this document are as follows:

it necessarily records that persons enter into marriage by mutual consent and confirms the absence of circumstances that make registration impossible (more on them below);
personal data (full name of the bride and groom before and after marriage registration, their full age, age at the time of filing documents, marital status - were not in an official relationship, divorced, widowed);
passport document data;
signatures of the applicants and date of preparation of the document.

The rules for registering a marriage at the registry office are such that the bride and groom must present to the specialist of the institution their passports or documents that replace them (diplomatic card, sailor’s passport, etc.), a paper on the termination of the previous union, if one was ever concluded, and receipt for payment of state duty.

The amount of the state duty is regulated by the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and in 2016 is 350 rubles. A receipt for payment of the fee can be obtained directly from the registry office or found on a single portal.

For one reason or another, young people do not have the opportunity to appear together at the government agency and submit a joint application. In this case, the law allows the presentation of papers by a representative, in which the applicant’s signature is notarized, by the second spouse. Official identification is not required if documents are submitted online.

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In accordance with Art. 27 of the relevant law, a family union can be registered 30 days after submitting the relevant application.

There are exceptions to this rule, so officials can reduce this period for good reasons:

bride's pregnancy;
birth of a child;
the presence of a threat to the life and health of persons entering into marriage;
other reasons (conscription for military service, departure on a business trip).

Reasons why a couple may not be married

An analysis of the legislation (Articles 12-14 of the RF IC) suggests that the civil registry office may refuse to register a union for young people if:

it becomes known that the marriage is forced;
1 or both future spouses have not reached the established age and have not submitted documents giving them the right to sign;
the bride or groom has not dissolved the previous union;
the couple is close relatives (these are parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren, adoptive parents and adopted children, siblings or half-brothers and sisters);
the newlyweds are incapacitated (or at least 1 of the couple).

In addition, marriage registration can be canceled or postponed by a decision of the court or law enforcement agencies if the relationship is legitimized by a person against whom a criminal case has been opened, if there are facts indicating that the registration will complicate the investigation or make it impossible.

Questions and answers

Question 1: Can I apply separately? For example, if the groom is in another city.

Answer: yes. The groom can write a statement separately (even while in another city). The application must be certified by a notary. This will serve as evidence of the authenticity of the groom's signature. The groom's application and the bride's application are submitted to the selected department of the registry office. The certified application can be sent by mail to the bride or directly to the registry office. It is important not to confuse the dates. The date and month of registration must be the same in both applications. It is also important to indicate the same registry office department.

Question 2: what to do if the bride cannot come to registration on the appointed day?

Answer: according to Article 27 of the RF IC, if the bride or groom does not appear at the registry office, then the marriage will not be registered. Later you can re-submit your application to the same or another registry office.

How is the painting done?

The procedure for marriage is such that on the day appointed by the registry office employees, both newlyweds must appear with their passports. The employee checks the data of the young people, clarifies whether their intentions are valid, and specifies the surnames of the applicants, which will be assigned to them after the registration of the union.

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Then the specialist begins to prepare the documents:

draws up a marriage record, which is printed in 2 identical copies and does not contain information different from that contained in the application;
provides the paper for the couple to sign;
on the basis of the registration record, issues a Marriage Certificate.

After all these procedures have been completed, the marriage is considered officially registered.

Changing your surname - features of the procedure

The procedure for registering a marriage at the registry office provides for a change of surname after the conclusion of the union. This possibility is regulated by Art. 28 Federal Law “On acts of civil status”. So, the couple chooses what surname their family will be called after registering the union. A husband and wife can keep their premarital surnames, change it to their partner's surname, or add their partner's surname to their own.

If the bride and/or groom decide to change their last name, then Fr. is indicated in their passport documents.

Within a month, one of the spouses who wishes to change their personal data (or both) is obliged to come to the department of the Federal Migration Service at the place of registration with a “cancelled” passport and a Marriage Certificate to receive a new document, since after this period, it will become invalid and unsuitable for any transactions.

The rules for marriage have a lot of nuances, and in the article we examined only the general procedure, without touching on special procedures, such as registering a union with foreigners or persons in prison. One can imagine the difficulty of the work of the institution’s employees. It becomes clear that working in the registry office is not only fun and celebration, but also hard work.