How is annulment of marriage different from divorce?

What is the difference between divorce proceedings and invalidation?

The main thing that distinguishes the invalidation of a marriage from a divorce is that in the first option, the legal relations of the spouses are completely nullified.
In legal terms, a man and a woman, after the annulment of a marriage, are considered to have never entered into it, while upon the dissolution of a family union, the couple is recognized as divorced spouses and, despite the termination of the marriage relationship, has obligations to each other - to divide acquired property and joint debts. Unlike the divorce procedure, which can be carried out through the registry office and the court, and the union itself is dissolved in a month, declaring a marriage invalid is possible only in court. The claim must be filed at the place of residence of the defendant. Although sometimes this is not entirely convenient (the person lives in another city), the law does not offer other options.

If for the dissolution of a marriage it is enough to name any reason - dissimilarity of characters, difference in life goals, betrayal, and so on, then the grounds for recognizing the invalidity of the marriage union must be much more compelling.

It has been proven that one of the spouses entered into a forced marriage without giving their voluntary consent. This happens if a person finds himself in a difficult life situation, and the other side takes advantage of this - a woman married a boyfriend in exchange for him paying for an expensive operation for her child, a guy married an unloved girl in order to avoid reprisals against his family, and so on. .
The age of the husband/wife at the time of marriage was less than 18 years. It’s one thing when a couple really loves each other and the parents of the newlyweds accept this relationship. But it’s a completely different matter when a 16-year-old girl jumps out to marry an elderly womanizer. Then the parents have a legal tool to declare the marriage invalid and return the daughter to the family.
The spouses are closely related. This criterion carries not only an ethical component, but also well-known medical reasons - it has long been recognized that children born by blood relatives are distinguished by a large number of congenital diseases, because they are the fruit of incest.
The conclusion of a marriage between adoptive parents and the children they adopted. Although the connection between them is not blood, such a union goes against the moral norms accepted in Russian society.
A marriage may be declared invalid if at the time of the marriage one of the spouses was incapacitated. Fraudsters often resort to a scheme where pressure is put on a mentally ill person, as a result of which he becomes the husband/wife of a swindler. Usually the case concerns real estate or a business owned by a sick person, because the spouse has the primary right to inherit the property.
The marriage union is fictitious. Fictitious marriages are concluded for several purposes - citizenship, employment, inheritance, participation in government programs, and so on. The signs of a fictitious marriage are:
spouses do not manage a common household and do not have a joint budget;
a man and a woman do not communicate with each other on personal and everyday topics;
husband and wife do not know basic facts about the life of their other half.
One or both spouses entered into marriage without officially dissolving the previous union.
The spouse deliberately concealed from his other half the fact that he was sick with a sexually transmitted disease or HIV infection.

Legal consequences

If the plaintiff manages to prove the validity of the stated claims, the marriage is declared invalid, and the following legal consequences occur for its participants:

Termination of marital relations, accompanied by registration with the civil registry office. Moreover, regardless of the duration, a previously formalized union is declared invalid from the moment of its official registration, that is, from the date of conclusion. All legal consequences associated with it are annulled, except for the recognition by the father of a child born in marriage that was subsequently declared invalid.
Recognition of the invalidity of the marriage contract. If at the time of marriage the spouses have drawn up an agreement, in the event of the marriage union being declared invalid, the property acquired during the years of marriage is considered to be the common shared property or the common joint property of the persons;
Preservation of the rights of a child born in such a marriage, or until the expiration of three hundred days after the court decision. Thus, the invalidity of a marriage does not limit or exempt spouses from fulfilling parental responsibilities, including the financial support of a minor. It is impossible to formalize a voluntary renunciation of paternity due to the invalidity of the marriage.
The ability of a conscientious spouse to demand from the spouse who violated his rights compensation for material and moral damage in accordance with the procedure established by civil law.
The right of a law-abiding spouse to retain the surname that he chose upon marriage.

Legal proceedings for annulment of marriage

Another difference between the dissolution of a marriage and its recognition as invalid is that in the case of an official divorce, a husband or wife can file an application, whereas in the case of annulment of a union, the circle of plaintiffs is significantly expanded by law. The following have the right to go to court:

Husband, wife or both parties;
the prosecutor, if he has become aware of facts that allow him to declare the marriage invalid;
parents of the husband/wife, if he/she has not reached the age of majority;
relatives in a situation where it becomes known that the spouses are closely related;
guardians of a mentally ill person who has entered into marriage.

The algorithm for declaring a marriage invalid is as follows.

Preparation and collection of evidence for judicial review.
Drawing up a claim including the passport details of the spouses, information about the place and time of registration of the marriage, and the basis for declaring the union invalid. The application may also contain the material demands of the injured party - the amount of money necessary for the treatment of a conscientious spouse in case of infection with a sexually transmitted disease, the amount of monthly payment for common children, if any appeared during the marriage.
Judicial consideration of the case with the issuance of an appropriate decision. In some cases, the annulment of a marriage may be refused - the minor spouse has reached the age of 18, the party having an earlier union has dissolved it. If the judge makes a positive ruling, the parties need to insist that the entry in the registration book be declared unenforceable.

You can file a lawsuit to declare a marriage invalid throughout your entire married life. Only in the case of sexually transmitted diseases the statute of limitations is different - it is reduced to one year. Annulment of a marriage entails the following legal consequences:

division of jointly acquired property is not carried out; each of the failed spouses retains property registered in his name;
if a marriage contract is concluded between the parties, it is declared invalid;
spouses are deprived of the right to inherit each other’s property, since in fact they are no longer relatives;
premarital surnames are returned to the parties;
if one or more children were born in the union, there is no difference from divorce - the rights and responsibilities for maintenance and upbringing are divided equally between a man and a woman.

Example of a statement of claim

In the Chernyansky District Court of the Belgorod Region
Plaintiff: Popov Pavel Viktorovich

address: 690000, Vladivostok,

st. Oktyabrskaya, 42, apt. 36

Defendant: Popova Victoria Vladimirovna,

address: 309650, Belgorod region,

Chernyanka village, st. Sizova, 24

Statement of claim for recognition of marriage as invalid

On August 18, 2018, a marriage was registered between me and the defendant by the civil registry office of the Primorsky district of Vladivostok, we lived together and ran a common household, we have no children together.

In October 2021, when passing a medical commission for employment on a ship as a ship's cook, I found out that I was infected with a sexually transmitted disease, namely chlamydia. According to the doctor's conclusion, the disease was not chronic and was acquired in a relatively recent period.

During a conversation with my wife, who by that time had gone to the Belgorod region to visit her parents, I learned that the Respondent knew about the presence of a sexually transmitted disease before our marriage, but did not inform me. After this circumstance was clarified, the actual marriage relationship between us was terminated.

Taking into account the above, guided by Articles 15, 27 of the RF IC, 131-132 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation,

Ask:

Recognize the marriage concluded between me and the Defendant on August 18, 2015 by the Civil Registry Office of the Primorsky District of Vladivostok as invalid.
Cancel registration record No. 18764234908 made by the above Civil Registry Office.

Application:

Copy of the statement of claim
Receipt for payment of state duty
Copy of doctor's report
Copy of analysis results
Copy of marriage certificate
A copy of the spouse's test results

Popov P.V. November 16, 2018

How to invalidate a marriage after a formal divorce

Sometimes it becomes necessary to declare a marriage invalid after the spouses have divorced.
Recognizing a marriage as invalid after divorce is a casual concept in itself, because if a marriage is declared invalid, the divorce has no legal force. A marriage is recognized as invalid after its dissolution if, during a court hearing, circumstances are established that annul the very fact of its registration. Typically, representatives of law enforcement agencies take such a step in order to reveal the fact of a fictitious marriage of citizens in order to obtain a certain benefit. Or former spouses who are in the process of dividing property in order to preserve property registered in their name. As in the case of existing relationships, a marriage can be declared invalid after its dissolution only through the court.

There are situations when spouses want to annul the official fact of separation, believing that the conclusion, dissolution and invalidation of a marriage are similar in legal terms. Often young couples break up rashly and immediately run to the registry office with an application for dissolution of the marriage. Very soon they regret their decision and rush to lawyers to find out whether the divorce can be declared invalid. The answer from experts in the vast majority of cases is disappointing - it is almost impossible to deprive a decision on divorce of legal force.

Therefore, if people understand that they have made a mistake and actually want to live together, the easiest way is to go back to the registry office and have a wedding than to have the divorce annulled.

Concealment of HIV infection by one of the spouses

HIV or venereal disease in one of the spouses is not a fact of unconditional recognition of the marriage as invalid if both of them are aware of it. However, the lack of knowledge of the second marriage partner is regarded as an independent basis for declaring the marriage invalid. Moreover, the infection of a partner with the above-mentioned illnesses by a person who knew about them and did not inform the partner constitutes a crime, and not only serves as the basis on which the recognition of the marriage as invalid is based.

In this case, it is necessary to prove that the injured party was not, in fact, notified that her potential spouse was infected with HIV or a sexually transmitted disease. If necessary, medical workers are involved in solving this problem, who can confirm that the carrier of the infection knew about his disease before entering into marriage. In this case, the marriage may be declared invalid.

Invalidation of divorce

There are also more dramatic situations - the spouse, taking advantage of the long business trip of her life partner, files for divorce. According to the law, if the defendant does not appear for three court hearings, the divorce occurs automatically without his consent. When the person returns, he finds out that he is already divorced. It’s good if less than a month has passed since the separation, the other half can challenge the court’s decision. But if more than 30 days have passed, the confused spouse has only one option left to recognize the divorce as invalid - to find flaws in the work of the court and prove them in order to annul the decision.

Reason No. 2 – If the condition of mutual voluntary consent is not met

The RF IC regulates the conditions that must be met in order for a marriage to be officially registered in the manner prescribed by law. Among this list, the basis for the voluntary entry into a union of two subjects of legal relations, which is enshrined in Articles 12-14 of the Insurance Code, stands out especially. It follows from this rule that a spouse whose rights have been violated, including if the condition of mutual consent is not met, may apply to the court to declare such a relationship invalid.

In addition, if there is evidence that the rights of one of the spouses were violated upon entry, a prosecutor may file an application. To do this, it is necessary to provide an argument that the subject of legal relations was misled by deception or forced into marriage because of his physical or mental condition when it was impossible to realize his actions.

Arbitrage practice

A fictitious stamp in a passport is when both spouses, or one of them, did not get married in order to start a family.

The most common options for such a marriage are for the sake of registration or citizenship. One receives money, and the second receives the legal opportunity to register in a large city or obtain Russian citizenship.

One of the family members may enter into marriage for the sake of a career. Judicial practice knows cases in which a graduate student married the daughter of a professor before placement and, of course, he studied well and received a position as an assistant at a neighboring department.

Quite quickly, the clever boy from the provinces left his new family nest and did not appear at home, however, after some time he raised the issue of divorce, claiming, of course, to divide the property with the professor’s daughter.

In this situation, it is obvious that the young man left his family as soon as he received the position of assistant, and the injured wife had the right to demand a divorce, which was done, it was annulled and everyone was left with what they owned on the wedding day.

Some marriage swindlers immediately after registering a family sell everything to which they have rights: apartments, cars, dachas and disappear in an unknown direction.

Everything is so dramatic in an unequal marriage, when one is sincere, and the second is planning to receive a considerable inheritance in the near future, patiently waiting for the moment when the spouse no longer needs his wealth.

If you find yourself in a similar situation, you need to wipe away your tears quickly and, following fresh steps, file a statement of claim in court, collect evidence, witnesses, and involve experienced lawyers.

The sooner you take action, the more evidence you can collect.

It can be very difficult to prove its fictitiousness, because it affects intimate aspects and, of course, knowing this, a clever spouse will try to gain confidence before the court under any pretext. If he has evidence of joint housekeeping or marital relations, the court will not recognize the marriage as fictitious.

Reason No. 3 – when the marriage is recognized as fictitious

A fictitious marriage is a union that is concluded between a man and a woman in government bodies in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, but not for the purpose of creating a family, but for the extraction of any profit or privileges: citizenship of the Russian Federation, material or spiritual values. In most cases, such relationships are declared invalid if there is reasoned evidence from a conscientious spouse.

If the marriage is fictitious, then only two persons have the right to file a claim in court:

a conscientious spouse personally, if upon entering into the relationship he did not know about their fictitiousness;
a prosecutor who will represent the interests of a citizen whose marriage in practice turned out to be fictitious.

In the event that both spouses voluntarily agreed to marriage, but without the intention of starting a family, they do not have such a right to appeal to the judicial authorities. A claim cannot be accepted for consideration from a person who has entered into a fictitious union with a bona fide spouse.

Reason No. 4 – the presence of circumstances that impede marriage

An equally weighty basis for declaring a marriage invalid is the presence of certain circumstances among the participants in the relationship that impede the procedure for registering the marriage.

Article 14 of the RF IC specifically defines a list of conditions that prevent marriage:

If one of the persons is in a valid marriage with another person.
If the subjects of legal relations are closely related both in ascending and descending lines. In this case, half-parental relationships (one father or one mother) are also taken into account.
Marriage cannot be concluded between adoptive parents and adopted children.
If one of the participants in the marriage was diagnosed with a mental illness, which formed the basis for the court’s decision on the person’s incapacity.

If one of the specified circumstances exists, a claim may be filed in court by:

The spouse himself, who did not know about the existence of reasons that prevent marriage.
A spouse is a third person who is in an existing marriage with one of the participants in such family relationships.
Guardian of one of the spouses who has been declared legally incompetent by a court decision.
Guardianship and trusteeship authorities.
Prosecutor.
Third parties whose interests or rights were affected by the registration of the union.

Marriage age

In Russia, you can enter into a family relationship if you are already 18. There are no upper limits, i.e. it's never too late.

In some cases, you can get married earlier, for example:

during pregnancy;
if children have already been born;
when living together;
before joining the army;
if the parents died.

In order for the stamp in the passport to become legal, the newlyweds must obtain consent from the local government authorities for permission to issue it, without waiting for the execution of 18.

If, nevertheless, the marriage took place, but without permission or using forged certificates, then the registration can be declared illegal through the court, but unless the minor spouse is against it, because the court will most likely take his side and refuse all petitions.

Persons who have the right to demand court in such a situation are parents, guardians and the prosecutor, but if at the time of filing the claim the spouse is 18 years old, then only he himself can file a claim in court.