A bill has been submitted to the State Duma proposing to equalize civil marriages in Russia to official, subject to a number of conditions. One of these is the cohabitation of partners for five years, TASS reports.

If the couple has common child, this period is reduced to two years. The initiative concerns only relations between representatives of different sexes - men and women.

It is proposed to recognize cohabitation and running a common household, as well as the presence of common children, as signs of such a relationship. Compliance with these conditions will make it possible to equate a civil marriage with an official one with all the ensuing legal consequences. In particular, persons in such a relationship will be able to divide jointly acquired property, unless they have entered into other agreements, for example, an agreement on a different distribution.

According to the bill, citizens in de facto marital relationships will be subject to the same requirements as those planning to register an official marriage: they must reach marriageable age, not be in another marriage and not be close relatives.

Belyakov explained the need to adopt such a bill by the fact that in 2016 in Russia, according to the Ministry of Labor, the smallest number of marriages was registered in the last 20 years.

“Also, like in most foreign countries, our compatriots do not consider a stamp in their passport a necessary condition for creating a full-fledged family. Moreover, as recent surveys have shown, Russians do not even separate the concept of an unregistered marriage and an official marriage. However, from the point of view of the law, the so-called cohabitation is not recognized and does not give rise to any legal consequences, which puts the members of such a union in a very vulnerable position,” says the explanatory note to the document.

In this regard, Belyakov believes that the institution of de facto marriage relations should be recognized by the state and subject to a certain degree of protection, as is the case in foreign countries, for example, in Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway, France and Germany.

The initiative drew criticism in the State Duma. Chairman of the Committee on Family, Women and Children Tamara Pletneva said that deputies are unlikely to support the bill, reports.

The Socialist-Revolutionary's proposal also did not meet with understanding in the Public Chamber. According to Elina Zhgutova, a member of the OP for the Protection of Family, Motherhood and Childhood, the bill is aimed primarily at “dividing property,” while “it is much more important to think about children.” She called the proposal to equalize official and civil marriages an attempt to “legitimize a vicious practice.”

Meanwhile, experts interviewed by RBC said that such a law could be useful. In particular, it will facilitate the collection of alimony and the division of joint property, says the lawyer for family law Svetlana Dubrovina.

“In terms of settling property relations, the law needs to be supported,” agrees lawyer Victoria Dergunova. At the same time, she believes that in other aspects of family life the initiative raises many questions.

A legal conflict also arises if a person is already officially married, but actually cohabits with another person. “If we equate such cohabitation with marriage, then we will end up with polygamy or polyandry,” the lawyer pointed out.

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Civil marriage in the Family Code of the Russian Federation in 2019

Based on a survey among one hundred thousand Russian citizens, it was revealed that almost 50% of young people under 25 do not want to officially register their marriage: about 40% of those surveyed.

Thus, in order to stop the threatening trend, deputies took the initiative to amend the country’s legislation, as a result of which in the Family Code of the Russian Federation in 2019 it could acquire all the signs of marriage and receive the status of a registered marriage.

Civil marriage, definition

To begin with, let’s define a civil marriage, then consider the moment of division of joint property.

Division of property in a civil marriage

Joint property

Division of unregistered property of an informal married couple

If purchased by cohabitants is not recorded as common property, dividing it may not be at all easy, especially if the issue cannot be resolved in an amicable way. In this case, only an appeal to the courts with a claim for recognition of the right of common shared ownership and division into shares will help; on the allocation of a share from the common property.

To confirm in court the fact of running a joint household and purchasing property, you need to prepare the following evidence:

  • cohabitation (timing, seriousness of intentions); maintaining a joint household (joint budget - joint income and expenses);
  • joint purchase of property (confirmation of purchase, calculation of total income and expenses at the bank when receiving a loan, or a letter of guarantee from one partner to the other, payment documents confirming the repayment of debt by both participants);
  • purchasing things together (indicating the cost and share of both participants). A positive resolution of the problem of division of property depends on whether the participants in the process are able to convince the court of their contribution to the purchase. Based on judicial practice, the division of property between cohabitants is not a simple matter and, often, a dead end.

If a couple does not want to officially register with the registry office, then they should think about documentary evidence of participation in common ownership: receipts for each common purchase; signing agreements on common ownership; registration of purchased items into the general shared ownership; saving checks, receipts, statements.

In 2018, a law may be adopted in Russia according to which a civil marriage can become official under certain conditions. What are we even talking about?

A new bill will be submitted to the State Duma of the Russian Federation, which involves changes to the Family Code. We are talking about a new concept of “actual marital relations”, which can be assigned to people living.

Let's figure out in what case a civil marriage can become a “de facto marital relationship”?

  • If a man and woman live together for more than 5 years.
  • If a man and woman live together for more than 2 years and have a child together.

“Actual marital relations” are unregistered relations between a man and a woman, which are equivalent to an official marriage. Of course, this also applies to legal consequences - they will be the same as in an official marriage.

It turns out that, having lived together for 5 years (or 2 years + a common child), a man and a woman automatically enter into a de facto marriage relationship, and their rights and obligations are now regulated by legislation: family and civil.

Why is this being done?

According to official data, in 2016 the minimum number of marriages in 20 years was registered. Many Russians, as well as citizens of other countries, do not consider it necessary official registration marriage and a stamp in the passport.

Official surveys in our country have shown that many people do not see the difference between a civil marriage and an official one.

The author of the initiative, the person who proposed this bill for consideration, Anton Belyakov, believes that a civil marriage puts the participants in the relationship in a vulnerable position, since from the point of view of the law, cohabitation does not exist, and therefore there can be no legal consequences. Anton Belyakov is confident that the state should recognize civil marriage as official and protect the participants in the relationship. The first step for this could be the “legal regime of marital property.”

What is the legal regime for marital property?

If people who have lived in an official marriage for some time get divorced, then property is divided. He can pass peacefully ( notarial agreement on the division of property) or through the court. In a civil marriage, everything is somewhat more complicated - what is registered for whom, goes to that person.

“Legal regime of marital property” means that people who cohabitate will share joint property if necessary. That is, the property that they acquired during the period of cohabitation. In general, everything is like in an official marriage.

Is it necessary?

On the one hand, sometimes people really are not legally protected if problems arise during a civil marriage. Such a law will help protect the rights of women (or men).

On the other hand, there is an official marriage. People may not marry according to their personal wishes. Why force them to do this? If a man does not want to marry a woman, will he really want to be automatically assigned the status of a husband? He will simply leave the woman. This, of course, can be a plus - one of the cohabitants will not be fooled. But what is all this for? Isn't this a violation of citizens' freedoms?

It is not yet known whether this bill will pass. Everything is as usual: wait and see.

At the end of January, Senator Anton Belyakov proposed to equate civil marriages with official ones. However, from the very beginning we are faced with confusion in terms. In fact, the very term “civil marriage” arose after the revolution: with the word “civil” the authorities emphasized its difference from church marriage. Thus, legally, a “civil marriage” is just an official one, and a husband and wife who do not put a stamp in the registry office are considered by law “cohabitants”: this status does not carry any legal consequences. According to Belyakov, “cohabitation” should be equated to marriage. 5 years together - consider husband and wife without any stamp. 2 years together, but a child was born - the same thing.

The bill caused a lot of controversy: the first to oppose it were the Duma's guardians of morality, who saw here an encroachment on spiritual bonds and the institution of family. But what is the legal difference between a legally registered marriage and cohabitation? What is the conflict all about?

Firstly, property. In case of divorce, it is divided between the spouses. If the marriage was not officially concluded, then whoever the property is registered with gets it. Secondly, alimony. We are talking not so much about payments for the child, but about the money that the second spouse will receive if he becomes disabled. Also, the official spouse, like children, is recognized as the heir of the first turn. In addition, there are many other situations where a registered marriage is beneficial: for example, visiting a spouse in a hospital or prison.

After this short analysis, it is difficult to say what “moral foundations of family life” are so concerned about in parliament. After all, the senator didn’t come up with anything new. Similar practices exist in many countries around the world.

Thus, French legislation enshrines “civil partnership”: it has 4 steps. Free Union (without additional rights), cohabitation (in France it is confirmed by evidence and gives the right to jointly acquired property and recognition of the child), civil liability agreement (registered upon application and gives the right to stipulate the contribution of everyone to common expenses, choose the ownership of property - joint or separate, mandatory recognition of the child, as well as the obligation to financially support the cohabitant in case of problems) and the registration of marriage itself.

In Canada, cohabitation after a year gives the same rights as marriage. Proof requires joint bank accounts, joint ownership of real estate or its rental, common bills for housing and communal services and purchases, joint travel, a common child, etc.

Spain has a legalized form of cohabitation, the literal translation is “couple in fact.” The gender of such “spouses” does not matter (in our country Belyakov prescribed a “union of a man and a woman”), and the main features are long-term and stable relationships, and a public similarity to a marriage union.

Such regulation is not unique to Europe. Even Ecuador equates cohabitation with marriage after two years. “Spouses” acquire inheritance rights, property rights, tax and pension benefits. The country has adopted a separate law on de facto marriage, regulating the rights and obligations of people who have not brought the application to the registry office.

Russia, in its attitude to marriage, resembles Asia: in China, for example, there is no institution of cohabitation; on the contrary, the legislation of the Celestial Empire does not consider property disputes before marriage and suppresses in every possible way, including fines, this type of relationship within the framework of strict demographic policy and birth control.

An amendment has been submitted to the State Duma for consideration Family Code, according to which a man and woman who have lived together for more than five years will be recognized as husband and wife, even if their marriage is not officially registered. For this purpose, the concept of “actual marital relations” will appear in the Family Code.

“A de facto marriage relationship is a union of a man and a woman who are not registered in the established manner, living together and leading a common household. The signs of a de facto marriage relationship are: cohabitation for five years; cohabitation for two years and the presence of a common child (common children)" , says the bill.

The status of de facto marital relations entails the rights and obligations of spouses provided for by family and civil law. In particular, to enter into such a relationship, persons must be of legal age, not be married to another person, and not be close relatives.

“The signs of a de facto marital relationship are: cohabitation for five years; cohabitation for two years and the presence of a common child (common children).”

“Our compatriots do not consider a stamp in a passport a necessary condition for creating a full-fledged family,” explain the authors of the bill. “However, from the point of view of the law, so-called cohabitation is not recognized and does not give rise to any legal consequences, which puts members of such a union in a very vulnerable position.” Therefore, he proposes to extend the “legal regime of property of spouses” to property acquired during the period of cohabitation: everything acquired by them during the period of cohabitation will be recognized as joint property.

"A completely unnecessary initiative"

The explanatory note to the document contains a link to countries where there are similar laws - Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway, France and Germany. However, in Russia the reaction to such initiatives turned out to be quite restrained.

Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children Oksana Pushkina said that her new bill is “a little scary.” “I think it’s right not to legislatively intrude into this area, because if adults want to get married, they will do it. And if they don’t want to, for any reason, then the legislator shouldn’t oblige them,” Pushkina noted in a comment to the iz.ru portal. “There is a legal marriage. They must enter into it voluntarily. But automatically considering it concluded is a completely unnecessary initiative.”

In her opinion, the adoption of such an amendment to the Family Code will lead to numerous legal disputes, where one of the spouses will prove that cohabitation lasted five years, and the other - that it lasted four and a half. “It will turn out to be nonsense,” stated the deputy chairman of the Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children.

“There is a legal marriage. They must enter into it voluntarily. But automatically considering it concluded is a completely unnecessary initiative.”

The Public Chamber of the Russian Federation commented even harsher on the new legislative initiative. “This law is aimed exclusively at the division of property, the question should not be raised this way, the responsibility of the spouses should not be financially motivated,” said Elina Zhgutova, a member of the OP. “The responsibility of the father, who often leaves the family, is unlikely to increase if he is forced to divide the property.” .

According to Zhgutova, the new amendments to the Family Code will only legitimize “the vicious practice of so-called cohabitation.” According to the results of an anonymous survey conducted in the Telegram messenger, 27% of respondents voted for equating cohabitation with marriage, and 73% voted against.

The explanatory note to the new bill notes that “according to the Ministry of Labor, in 2016 the minimum number of marriages was officially registered in Russian Federation over the past 20 years." New law, will probably help correct these statistics if it allows officials to equate “civil” marriages with official ones. But it will not affect the attitude of Russians towards the institution of family and marriage.

According to VTsIOM surveys, 81% of Russians do not consider an unregistered marriage to be something reprehensible, and 60% are sure that the main motive for getting married is the birth of children. 79% of Russians are convinced that living in a marriage is better than living alone. And 12% prefer not to get married, saying something like " family life not for me, and I’m simply not able to see the same person every day.”

Today, when marriage has ceased to be an economic and social necessity, many more marriages are performed solely for love

At the same time, sociologists note that today, when marriage has ceased to be an economic and social necessity, many more marriages are performed solely for love. This is supported by the dynamics of marriages and divorces: according to Rosstat, in 2017 there were almost 47 thousand more marriages than in 2016. The number of divorces increased over the year by only 3 thousand.

As a result, last year there were 505 thousand divorces out of 905.9 thousand marriages. Women most often file for divorce; among the most common reasons for divorce are infidelity, drunkenness and assault. At the same time, as sociologists note, if in the 1960s after a divorce 30-40% of women remarried, today the figure is 70%.

Sologamy and hikikomori

Statistics on the number of official marriages in Russia are a faint shadow of the family crisis that is unfolding today in developed countries of the world. We are not even talking about the spread of same-sex marriage.

By the way, when the US Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage two years ago, the Israeli newspaper Maariv burst out with a malicious article about the fact that “as the whole world moves away from the tedious institution of marriage, the LGBT community was allowed to get married.”

“My dear gays, before you joyfully plunge headlong into the pool called “marriage,” know that although only a third of marriages formally break up, this only means that everyone else suffers in silence,” wrote the author of the note, Dror Rafael. “You got an equal opportunity to be unhappy, and equality is very important."

Sociologists regard sologamy as “a natural result of the development of narcissism and individualism in modern culture based on social networks.” “Marriage to oneself is a natural consequence of modern individualism, which goes much further than traditional individualism,” notes British sociologist John Horvath. “Traditional individualism somehow takes into account the limitations of traditions and customs. Postmodern individualism is based on the idea of ​​absolute human autonomy. People are told that they themselves are the only architects of their freedom and destiny, and the main goal of their life is the rapturous race to realize their own interests."

The downside to the spread of these “new family forms” is the unprecedented number of people living alone, which is becoming a huge social problem in developed countries. On last week The UK even created the post of Minister for Loneliness. Tracey Crouch has become minister and will develop the first government strategy in the country's history to combat the problem of loneliness.

On the opposite side of the globe, in Japan, the nation's largest newspaper, the Mainichi Shimbun, last week published a lengthy article about hikikomori - people who deliberately isolate themselves from society. The media first started talking about them about ten years ago, when they were talking primarily about teenagers.

In 2010, the first national study was conducted, according to the results of which the number of people “who do not go to school or work for more than six months” was about 700 thousand people. Now their number has decreased to approximately 540 thousand people. However, at the same time, the number of Japanese who have been in a state of hikikomori for more than seven years increased from 17 to 35%. It was discovered that this syndrome is becoming protracted, and that people of increasingly older age categories are now susceptible to it.

In Japan, 45% of women and more than 25% of men aged 16 to 24 said they were “not interested in sexual intercourse and despise it.”

Today, the majority of hikikomori are among Japanese people over 40 years of age. Moreover, the average duration of self-isolation from society in this age group is more than 22 years. But this is not the only problem: in parallel with the problem of hikikomori, the Japanese are discussing a new social phenomenon - the “80-50 problem”. The essence of the problem is that more and more parents aged 80-89 continue to financially support their 50-60 year old sons and daughters.

Last year, the results of a sociological study, which the media called the “celibacy syndrome,” came as a shock to Japanese society. A large-scale sociological survey found that 61% of unmarried men and 49% of women aged 18-34 have never been in any romantic relationship.

45% of women and more than 25% of men aged 16 to 24 said they were “not interested in sexual intercourse and despise it.” Based on these surveys, Japanese demographers made a forecast according to which the country's population rising sun by 2060 will decrease by a third.