How to Protect Personal Assets with a Prenuptial Agreement

Sample forms of marriage contracts

In accordance with Chapter 7 of the RF IC, property acquired by spouses during marriage is their joint property. This means that spouses own and manage their property jointly, while the share of each spouse in the jointly acquired property is not allocated. Spouses have the right to change this regime and establish common shared or separate ownership for both all property and individual items. The prenuptial agreement can determine what property each spouse will receive in the event of divorce.

Marriage contract

- this is an agreement between persons entering or entering into marriage and their common expression of will.

At the time of concluding a marriage contract, the parties must understand the meaning of their actions, be guided by them, and be legally capable.

A marriage contract is concluded for a purpose that does not contradict the fundamentals of morality and law and order, should not be a feigned or imaginary transaction, and should not be used to cover up other transactions.

Failure to comply with the notarial form of the marriage contract entails its invalidity.

A prenuptial agreement defines the property rights and obligations of spouses during marriage or in the event of its dissolution.

The marriage contract regulates the relationship:

1) rights and obligations of spouses regarding property/part of property, including property acquired in the future

2) rights and obligations to mutually support each other.

A marriage contract can be concluded before the state registration of a marriage, but will come into force only after the marriage is registered (Article 41, paragraph 1 of the RF IC, paragraph 1, Article 425 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

A marriage contract can be concluded for a certain period and will be valid until the expiration of the period specified in the contract, or indefinitely - valid until the divorce.

Spouses may, in a marriage contract, provide for the application of the shared ownership regime to the property, defining the share of each of them.

A prenuptial agreement may provide for a condition the occurrence of which is expected

, but may not occur (clause 1 of Article 157 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).
For example
:
in the event of the birth of a son within three years of marriage, ownership of the car purchased during the marriage passes to the spouse.
A marriage contract may provide for a condition or circumstance upon the occurrence of which the rights and obligations of the spouses are terminated

(Clause 2 of Article 157 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).
For example, if the reason for divorce is adultery, then the division of property acquired during the marriage will not be carried out according to the rules of joint ownership, thus the share of the guilty spouse will be less.
The marriage contract regulates only the property relations of the spouses

, and
cannot concern the personal non-property rights and obligations of spouses.
A marriage contract cannot oblige spouses to remain faithful to each other, not to abuse alcohol, etc. However, it is possible to make the property relations of spouses dependent on certain conditions, including those indicated above. For example, you can provide for the right to receive monetary compensation in the event of misbehavior by a spouse.

Spouses cannot regulate their rights and obligations regarding children by a marriage contract.

Such relations can be regulated by an alimony agreement, an agreement on the procedure for exercising parental rights, or another similar agreement.

A prenuptial agreement cannot contain conditions that place one of them at a severe disadvantage. For example, it is impossible to transfer all property acquired during marriage to one of the spouses through a marriage contract. Such an agreement may be declared invalid by the court upon the application of one of the spouses.

A prenuptial agreement cannot determine the fate of property in the event of the death of one of the spouses. Property can only be disposed of in the event of death by drawing up a will. Thus, a marriage contract cannot include a condition that in the event of the death of one of the spouses, all jointly acquired property will become the property of the other.

Changing the marriage contract and termination

possible by agreement of the parties, or by court decision. By a court decision, a marriage contract can be changed or terminated in the event of a violation of its terms, causing significant damage to the other party, or a change in the circumstances under which the contract was concluded. In this case, a change in circumstances is considered significant when they have changed so much that, if the parties could have reasonably foreseen this, the contract would not have been concluded by them at all.

The court may declare the marriage contract invalid

in cases:

-if the terms of the contract put one of the parties in an unfavorable position;

- the marriage is declared invalid;

- there are grounds provided for in Articles 165-181 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (provisions governing the validity and invalidity of transactions).

Sample forms of marriage contracts:

Appendix No. 1 Sample sample of a marriage contract (for citizens married with the condition of separate ownership of property acquired by the spouses before marriage and sold during marriage; the total debt of the spouses is divided in half between them)

Appendix No. 2 Sample sample of a marriage contract (for married citizens with the condition of changing the regime of property acquired during the marriage and establishing a regime of separate ownership in relation to property that will be acquired in the future)

Appendix No. 3 Sample sample of a marriage contract (for married citizens, when one of the spouses is granted the right to reside in the home of the second spouse)

Appendix No. 4 Marriage agreement between spouses establishing a regime of common joint ownership of a separate type of property

Appendix No. 5 Marriage agreement of spouses for the case when shares and contributions to commercial organizations are registered in the name of only one of the spouses

Appendix No. 6 Marriage agreement for persons getting married

Appendix No. 7 An approximate sample of a marriage contract for spouses establishing a regime for the separate ownership of spouses for both the spouses’ existing property and future property

Appendix No. 8 Sample sample marriage contract (for married citizens)

Appendix No. 1

An approximate sample of a marriage contract ( for married citizens with the condition of separate ownership of property acquired by the spouses before marriage and sold during marriage; the total debt of the spouses is divided in half between them)

Samara " " 2015

A citizen of the Russian Federation and a citizen of the Russian Federation, married in a marriage registered in 2015, registration number No., marriage certificate No., series, hereinafter referred to as “Spouses”, voluntarily, by mutual consent in order to settle mutual property rights and obligations, both in marriage and in the event of its dissolution, have entered into this marriage contract as follows:

Lawless Heart

The hero of the popular American TV series “How I Met Your Mother” lost his fiancée because of a prenuptial agreement that regulated literally every step of her, including Sunday pillow fights, regular breast augmentation and a ban on her parents visiting their home. In real life, according to Russian law, such an agreement, although it could offend the girl, would not have any real force.

The agreement can only regulate the financial relations of the spouses, i.e. You can prescribe which part of your salary should be given to the general budget and which part should be left as a nest egg. But it is impossible to prohibit going to corporate events with colleagues of the opposite sex. As a rule, lawyers advise to include in the document:

• The fate of property that the parties acquired before marriage or will appear as an inheritance or gift from third parties.
• Determine the shares in the purchased housing and draw up several options for its implementation in the event of a divorce.
• Determine in advance the fate of property that has not yet been purchased (cars, fur coats, jewelry). As a rule, things go to the person who used them.
• Register shares of ownership of bank accounts, securities or businesses.
• Assign financial compensation to the spouse who: remains with children after a divorce / tried to save the family / turned out to be the injured party when the fact of the other half’s infidelity was proven / lost his legal capacity.
• Determine the procedure for inheriting property if spouses have children from other marriages. A prenuptial agreement cannot predetermine the fate of children after their parents’ divorce. This issue is resolved in court, taking into account the interests of the child and his wishes, if he is already ten years old.

Dates for entry into force of the marriage contract and its termination

If a marriage contract is concluded during marriage (that is, if the parties to the contract have officially registered family relationships), its provisions come into effect immediately after the agreement is signed by the husband and wife, as well as after the document is certified by a notary.

If the agreement is concluded before the parties enter into an official marriage, then its terms come into force only after the marriage is registered. Moreover, if the engagement is dissolved and the marriage does not take place, the legal relationship from the previously concluded agreement will not be formed, and the agreement itself will be considered invalid.

In 2021, a marriage contract may be terminated in the following cases:

1. divorce;
2. the parties reaching mutual agreement to terminate the terms of the marriage contract (in this case, after termination of the agreement, the property of the husband and wife will change its regime);
3. upon the expiration date of the contract, if such a period was established by the parties when drawing it up.

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However, since for the most part the clauses of the agreement most often relate to issues of division of property, the list of these obligations will have legal force even after the divorce process.

Also, it is worth noting that in the Russian Federation, unilateral termination of a marriage contract is prohibited! Simply put, a party who believes that as a result of signing such a document, its rights were violated has the legal right to apply to the judicial authorities with a corresponding statement of claim.

Who can enter into a marriage contract?

Capable persons who have reached the age of 18, even if they are not officially married, have the right to enter into it (more on the nuances of this point below).

However, we’ll immediately make a reservation: a person can be recognized as legally competent at the age of 16 (and in some constituent entities of the Russian Federation even earlier) if he starts a family. Accordingly, from this moment he receives the legal opportunity to conclude a marriage contract.

If a person has reached the age specified above, but has been declared incompetent by a court decision, even a legal representative cannot conclude a marriage contract on his behalf.

Responsibility of spouses under a marriage contract in 2021

In 2021, the legislator does not provide for certain liability for civil transactions of this type. However, such liability is provided for spouses to third parties. At the same time, it can be divided between husband and wife (for example, separate responsibility for debt and credit obligations is common today).

In addition, the experts of our site recommend that the contract must include a clause on parental responsibility for misconduct and damage that may be caused by their children. Typically, this responsibility is shared equally between the father and mother.

What documents will be needed

BD is a mutual voluntary legal registration of financial and property relations between spouses, executed in writing by concluding an agreement.

The database does not need state. registration in Rosreestr. To confirm it, you only need notarization.

To register a database at a notary's office, you will need to present the following documents:

1. Spouses' passports.
2. Marriage certificate, if the marriage is officially registered.
3. Title documents for property.
4. Extract from the Unified State Register and other documents confirming ownership of the property.

Only the original documents are presented to the notary.

The procedure for registering a marriage contract in 2021

It’s worth noting right away that, unlike the agreements we analyzed earlier (for example, gift agreements), in 2021, in addition to the correct execution of the marriage agreement, the document must be certified by a notary! To do this, future spouses can use one of the following conclusion options:

1. personal visit to a notary’s office with subsequent preparation and execution;
2. drawing up an agreement with the help of a lawyer and having the completed project certified by a notary;
3. independent drawing up of an agreement by the spouses and its subsequent certification in the office.

However, when drawing up a marriage contract yourself, remember that its content and certification procedure are strictly regulated by the current legislation of the Russian Federation. Consequently, ignoring the established norms will entail the invalidity of the agreement!

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