A man and a woman who want to get married strive for family unity. However, there are also couples who marry, guided by other motives, often selfish ones. To qualify such cases, the term “fictitious marriage” .
Fictitious marriage - legal basis
A fictitious marriage is a union between a man and a woman, the main purpose of which is to obtain a certain material benefit. Part 5 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation is devoted to the procedure for legally justifying the conditions under which a marriage can be considered invalid.
Legislation
The only law that regulates the procedure for concluding and terminating marriages, the order of relationships between couples, their rights and mutual obligations is the Family Code of the Russian Federation. The set of articles and by-laws in Chapters 4 and 5 concerns the procedure for declaring a marriage invalid and the divorce procedure. Sections III-V give a complete understanding of the procedure for dividing property, awarding alimony, describes the rights and responsibilities of parents, children, and the procedure for adoption.
Differences between a real marriage and a fictitious one
The IC of the Russian Federation provides a clear legal justification for marriage as “a free, equal union of a woman and a man who have reached a certain age, whose goal is to create a family.”
Recognition of a marriage as valid is possible after state registration; from that moment on, all rights and obligations of spouses legally apply to marriage partners. Types of fictitious marriage:
- Partners register a marriage for a certain period in order to obtain mutual benefits. For example, one of the spouses receives the opportunity to become a citizen of the Russian Federation, the second receives material compensation for agreeing to become a fictitious husband/wife;
- One of the partners sincerely wants to start a family, and the second pursues the goal of obtaining material benefits.
Attention! According to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, a marriage based on fictitiousness is not a criminal offense, even after a trial and a decision to recognize such a marriage as invalid.
All decisions and decisions that were made as a result of marriage (obtaining a residence permit, employment, inheritance, etc.) fall under the legal term “Void transaction” and are subject to cancellation.
On September 29, 2018, the Duma passed the first reading of the Bill “On the Legal Status of Foreign Citizens in the Russian Federation,” which proposes to introduce criminal liability for fictitious marriage both for foreigners wishing to obtain Russian citizenship through marriage, and for citizens of the country providing such services.
Federal Law of July 25, 2002 No. 115-FZ “On the legal status of foreign citizens in the Russian Federation”
Reasons for registering a fictitious marriage
The reason why partners decide to enter into a fictitious marriage is, in 99% of cases, the opportunity to improve their financial situation.
A third of fictitious marriages are registered without the consent of the other party; this is a frequent type of fraud when one of the spouses is recognized as the injured party. In most cases, both parties take a conscious step. Read also: How to restore parental rights
The main reasons for fictitious marriages:
- fraud in obtaining inheritance, apartment;
- receiving subsidies, benefits or housing under government programs, for example, a mortgage for newlyweds;
- registration of Russian citizenship, work permits, subsidies, etc.
Despite the apparent legal harmlessness of such a marriage, when citizens enter into an agreement on a mutually beneficial basis, a fictitious marriage union is fraught with serious troubles.
If the goal of one person is to obtain registration on the basis of a certificate, then the second person must clearly understand that if he registers his spouse for his living space, the second person can claim part of the share in his apartment.
Interesting cases and works of art on this topic
Fictitious marriage took place back in the 19th century. Before receiving equal rights with men, women often used such a union to become independent from their parents and do what they loved. So, Sofya Kovalevskaya (née Korvin-Krukovskaya) married Vladimir Kovalevsky in order to go abroad and devote herself to science.
Reference. Fictitious marriages often occurred among Russian revolutionaries in the second half of the 19th century. One of such cases is depicted in Chernyshevsky’s work “What is to be done?” The characters Vera Pavlovna and Lopukhov are based on prototypes of participants in the Znamenskaya commune in St. Petersburg.
In Moscow a few years ago, you could find a fictitious spouse on the Internet; you just had to enter a query in a search engine. But the prosecutor's office took up the case. Most of the sites have been blocked, but similar pages with advertisements still appear. Whether it is really possible to enter into a marriage of convenience with the people who publish this is unclear. It's likely a scam.
Interesting! Many films have been made on the topic of fictitious marriage. One of them is “The Proposal” (2009).
In a number of countries where homosexuality is prohibited by law, a fictitious union becomes a real salvation. Thus, the story of a 32-year-old Chinese citizen, Ou Xiaobai, came to light relatively recently. She and her lover entered into fictitious marriages with young people who were also a gay couple. “I met my “husband” through a friend. He is a very nice person. Like me and my friend, he has a long-term relationship with another man, but he hides his homosexuality,” said Ou.
Evidence of a fictitious marriage
The main evidence and basis for the trial is the desire of one or both of the partners to enter into a marriage union not for the sake of creating a full-fledged family, but in order to receive material or other benefits and dissolve the marriage union.
To prove fictitiousness, the plaintiff collects a supporting database, certain documents and certificates.
A marriage can only be declared invalid by a court decision. Both one of the spouses and other interested parties can apply to the court with a corresponding statement of claim: friends, relatives, representatives of regulatory authorities, etc.
Reasons why a marriage is declared invalid
A marriage is recognized by the court as invalid for the following reasons.
- One of the partners has an undissolved marriage;
- In case of discovery of close family ties (in ascending or descending line);
- Marriage with proven signs of fictitiousness;
- Adopted children with direct adoptive parents who are not blood relatives;
- After one of the spouses is declared incompetent at the time of registration of the marriage certificate.
After the court decision, the relevant decisions are transferred to the registry office, and the registration certificate is canceled.
Signs of fictitiousness
Marriage relationships fall under the “fictitious” category after identifying the following signs:
- The spouses do not live together;
- There is no communication between husband and wife. This implies the absence of personal contacts, correspondence, calls;
- No joint budget. Spouses do not make joint purchases;
- Lack of common things. The couple does not have a joint apartment, car, summer cottage, etc. It is taken into account that joint ownership, for example, of an apartment, without common use, is not a sign of a real marriage;
- Spouses do not help or support each other.
Documents for trial
To begin the trial, the plaintiff must submit the following documents.
- A statement of claim for non-recognition of marriage with a request to remove the corresponding entry from the register of deeds. The application must be submitted on the appropriate form. Copies of the statement of claim are sent to the defendant at his place of registration and to the registry office;
- Documents confirming the fictitiousness of the relationship: statements from neighbors, documented certificates about the absence of a joint budget, etc.;
- Marriage registration certificate;
- Original receipt of payment of the duty.
Attention! Only a court can recognize a marriage as fictitious. After filing a claim, the judicial authorities are given 60 days to consider the application and issue a ruling on the date of trial.
Evidence of fictitiousness after death
After the death of one of the spouses, the widower/widow, the prosecutor's office, and the prosecutor's office, based on an application from the relatives of the deceased, can submit an application to the court with a request to declare the marriage invalid.
The goal is to deprive the remaining spouse of a share in the inheritance or any other part of the property if there are clear grounds to believe that the spouse of the deceased entered into marriage only for mercenary reasons without the goal of starting a family. Read also: Collection of penalties for alimony
The evidence base can be the recognition of the deceased as incompetent at the time of marriage registration on the basis of medical evidence. conclusions, medical histories, testimonies of doctors, nurses, friends, neighbors.
How to do it?
They marry by contract in the same way as by love: the couple pays the state fee and comes to the registry office with passports to write an application, after which a registration date is set. It is possible if:
- both future spouses are legally capable;
- none of them has a legal husband or wife at the time of filing the application;
- both have reached the age of majority;
- there is no close relationship between them;
- neither of them is the adoptive parent of the other.
Marriage to obtain Russian citizenship
As of 2021, in the Russian Federation, the norms of criminal or administrative liability do not apply to persons who registered a fictitious marriage.
If the marital union has not caused harm to the state, society or citizen, after the certificate of registration is revoked, both parties lose only the benefits and privileges obtained through their union.
If marriage was the basis for a foreign citizen to obtain resident status, he faces deprivation of Russian citizenship or a residence permit. The decision to deprive a residence permit or citizenship will be made based on a court decision by which the marriage is declared invalid.
According to the law, within three days a foreign citizen will receive a court decision obliging him to leave the Russian Federation within 15 days.
Video on the topic
Non-recognition of a fictitious marriage does not lead to liability - neither administrative nor criminal. There is a high probability that the person who proposed to enter into such an alliance is a typical swindler, but problems arise with collecting evidence. In the end, fictitious relationships sometimes develop into a full-fledged family. Therefore, having received such an offer, you need to think many times, calculate the possible dangers and consequences, weigh the pros and cons, and only then accept. It is extremely difficult to protect your rights in such a situation.
Risks of a fictitious marriage
After the court has made a decision on the invalidity of the marriage, all legal issues between the spouses are annulled, starting from the moment the marriage is registered.
After a court decision on the invalidity of a marriage, possible consequences for both partners:
- All property acquired by a couple during marriage is divided into two equal parts, provided that both parties to the transaction knew that their union was fictitious;
- Property owned by one of the spouses before marriage cannot be divided;
- If the fact of deception of one of the spouses, who did not know about the fictitiousness of the marriage, is proven in court, the injured party may demand compensation for moral and material damage;
- Preferential programs and subsidies are terminated. If the couple was paid money, the court obliges both parties to pay damages in equal parts. Upon receipt of an apartment, the housing becomes the property of the state;
- All contracts concluded thanks to a marriage certificate are canceled.
Is there really no escape from marriage scams?3
It is as easy as shelling pears to leave a marriage, but then exactly the consequences that the fraudster was pursuing will occur. You can try to prove the fictitiousness of the marriage and the malicious intent of the spouse through the court, which, as we wrote above, is a rather difficult task. You'll have to air out all your family's dirty laundry, stock up on testimony, and hope for the judges' favor. But the majority of judges in our country are women, and the arguments of a crying swindler about a broken heart may be considered weighty.
However, there is a solution to the problem. In our country it is rarely used, although it has all the necessary legal basis. And it's called a prenuptial agreement.
