In current legislation there is no concept of “civil marriage” - this term is used to define informal relationships, that is, cohabitation. During the period of a civil marriage, cohabitants can acquire a common living space, give birth and raise children, and also take the same last name, but according to the laws of our country they will still not be considered official spouses.
In addition, a cohabitant may legally not be allowed to see his common-law wife in intensive care, since legally they are strangers to each other even after a long period of living together. However, common-law spouses have many unobvious rights. Cohabitants have the following legal rights:
The right to establish paternity or non-recognition of a common child
Parents in a civil marriage have the same rights to children as in an official marriage, that is, the relationship between parents and children is not dependent on the registration of the marriage. The main thing here is the entries on the child’s birth certificate.
The only difference here is that the father, who is the mother’s common-law husband, must recognize the child as his own.
However, fathers may not recognize children born in a civil marriage. A man has the right not to leave a personal signature in the application for establishing paternity, and then he will not be considered the father.
If the paternity of the child has not been established, the data on the birth certificate is written as follows:
- the child is given the mother’s surname, and the first and patronymic are indicated from her words;
- Sometimes information about the father is not entered at all.
If a man decides to establish paternity after some time, he has the right to do so, and then the child is issued a new birth document. However, when the child reaches adulthood, his consent is required.
How are registered relationships different from unregistered ones?
Let's consider this issue from the point of view of our legislation.
- Property division . If lovers decide to separate and they are not registered, the property is not divided and is not considered jointly acquired. Roughly speaking, after a breakup, everyone is left with what belongs to them according to the documents. For example, while still living together, if a car was purchased, it will remain with the person in whose name it is registered. But in the official version, all property acquired during marriage is divided exactly in half between them.
- Debts . In a secular marriage, loans are divided equally upon divorce; any loan or mortgage will also fall on the shoulders of both. In “Cohabitation” - how the lovers themselves decided, or to whom the so-called debt was registered. The law does not provide for forcing the second “spouse” to pay after a breakup if he does not want to. Even if the money was spent on the needs of two.
- Inheritance. You shouldn’t count on an inheritance in an informal relationship if your beloved dies, unless a will has been left. But in a marriage union, the legal spouse will receive inherited capital in any case.
The right to alienate a property share and to return funds spent
When the common funds of common-law spouses are used to purchase property, and registration is made in the name of one of them, the second has the right to defend his rights in court. This happens when the shares in the property are not determined or one of the cohabitants passes away.
In this situation, there are 2 solutions:
- Alienation of a property share
, which is extremely difficult to do, since it is necessary to prove all the details of the acquisition of property. - Alienation of invested funds
as unjust enrichment of the second partner. Here you also cannot do without evidence, however, if the property is not common, then the money for it must be returned.
Marriage and cohabitation: similarities and differences
Having figured out whether the concepts of actual marriage and civil marriage are identical and having answered the question why this happens, we will figure out what is common and what is special about them.
If we discard the legal component and focus exclusively on the moral aspects of the issue, then these concepts have no differences. Each union is based on the principle of voluntary union between the parties, each in theory provides for family relationships, running a common household, having children, and so on.
However, the legal meaning of the concept of “marriage” neutralizes all their similarities, and the differences come to the fore. Thus, the main difference between marriage and cohabitation is the registration of the former with government agencies. It gives rise to all the legal consequences inherent in marriage under the law, which is impossible with cohabitation.
Eligibility for general credits
It is possible to take out a joint loan without registering a marriage, while the second cohabitant can take part in the agreement as a guarantor or co-borrower.
The co-borrower pays half the loan amount, and in case of failure to meet payment deadlines, the full amount of the debt.
The guarantor, on the contrary, has every right not to pay anything if the payment schedule is followed.
However, applying for a general loan involves many more difficulties than for a single borrower. When applying for a loan for one common-law spouse, the second has the right to subsequently demand from him all the funds contributed by him personally.
Exception Limits
Marriage age in some cases acts as a variable criterion. Part 2 of Article 13 of the RF IC regulates the admissibility of reducing the limit to 16 years. However, a specific list of conditions is not regulated. The following positions are prescribed, which together make it possible to soften the age requirements:
- Mutual will of the parties;
- Each of the couple reaches the age of sixteen;
- The presence of valid reasons (pregnancy, having a child together, conscription for military service, long-term living together as a family, the reality of a threat to health or life, the obviousness of the fact that marriage will improve the financial situation of the pregnant woman and provide adequate conditions for the development of the child);
- Obtaining permission from local authorities.
In addition, at the level of territorial subjects of the Russian Federation, the minimum age may be 14 years. This requires regulatory regional consolidation of such a possibility and the presence of compelling reasons. This legal position is typical for Adygea, Tatarstan, as well as 12 other regions, including the Moscow, Sakhalin and Tula regions.
In the Kabardino-Balkan Republic, the Murmansk region and a number of other regions, the age of those getting married has been officially reduced to 15 years. This regional policy is determined, first of all, by cultural customs and traditions.
Note! All age legal restrictions apply only to citizens who are residents of the country. For non-residents, the provisions of Part 2 of Article 156 of the RF IC , according to which, in matters of marriageable age, they are subject to the provisions of the country of which they are citizens.
The right to receive a share in the inheritance of a deceased partner if he was the sole breadwinner
Civil spouses are not legally considered husband and wife, but they have the right to each other’s inheritance without a will if they are dependent on the deceased.
To do this, 3 conditions must be met simultaneously:
- Cohabitation until the death of one of the spouses is at least 1 year.
- Be a dependent of a deceased partner.
- The cohabitant of the deceased does not have the physical ability to work or is disabled.
Then the common-law spouse has the right to enter into the inheritance of the cohabitant along with his other relatives in equal shares. In addition, dependents have the right to claim a mandatory share in the inheritance. However, as practice shows, it is very difficult for common-law spouses to prove the fact of dependency.
How to prove that you are a common-law wife
The wife will have to make serious efforts to prove cohabitation and running a common household. Most often, this is required after a breakup. Although women consider themselves full-fledged wives, from a legal point of view, they are strangers, like neighbors.
There are situations when there is practically no chance. The most striking example is if the husband’s relatives bought property with common money. Or you built a house on their site. In such a situation, even the court will not help.
Try to find any receipts that will indicate joint purchases.
Right to be included in a will
The most reliable option for providing for a cohabitant after the death of another is to include him in the will. In this case, a civil marriage will not matter, because the spouse will one way or another receive his share of the property.
There is still one nuance - civil spouses, unlike official ones, do not have the right to draw up a joint will - only personal ones are available to them.
In addition to the will, the cohabitant can conclude an inheritance agreement for signing by the heirs. According to this document, after the death of the testator, all heirs will receive their due shares of the property with the obligatory fulfillment of any requirements.
Remember the main thing:
- You can prove a “civil marriage” through the court if you want to establish paternity or receive part of the property.
- You need to download the case law on a similar situation and attach it to the claim.
- Witnesses for the hearing must be announced in advance through a petition.
- Witnesses can be interviewed even in another city; for this purpose, a VKS (video conference call with another court) is assigned. Your witness will have to come to the court at the appointed time, who will tell you to keep secret.
Be sure to download:
The right to receive a tax deduction for common real estate
The right to a tax deduction is granted to all citizens participating in the purchase of real estate. When a home is purchased using a mortgage loan, it is possible to apply a deduction in the amount of interest paid.
Civil spouses have the right to obtain a tax deduction only for their part of the real estate and within the limits of the funds paid by them. And in order to receive a tax deduction and tax refund, the apartment of common-law spouses must be divided between them into shares.
When a mortgage is issued in a civil marriage, the cohabitants act as co-borrowers of the loan and each pay off the debt for their part of the property.
The only advantage that common-law spouses have is that they are not interdependent and have the right to sell each other a share or the entire living space without obstacles, and also receive tax on this transaction.
Marriage and cohabitation: advantages and disadvantages
Over the past two decades, people are increasingly arguing about what is better - cohabitation or official marriage. We propose to consider the pros and cons of both of these statuses.
Thus, the main argument of the followers of “free relationships” is this very freedom. When living in cohabitation, a couple is not burdened with many legal formalities: changing the surname, the need for the spouse’s consent when conducting transactions, indicating the spouse in the income statement, and so on.
At the same time, the lack of recognition deprives cohabitants of conjugal rights, including the right to maintenance, common property, inheritance, automatic recognition of the father as the child’s parent, and so on, which is perceived by opponents of cohabitation as a complete insecurity of status.
As for official marriage, its pros and cons are directly opposite to the pros and cons of cohabitation. Yes, a registered marriage union does guarantee spouses some legal protection of their status, giving rise to a lot of rights, responsibilities and consequences. But at the same time, there is a need to comply with many formalities that are excluded in the case of cohabitation. In favor of what to choose in this case, everyone will have to decide individually.
Eligibility for the standard child deduction
It is given to both parents who are not officially married. At the legislative level, it is allowed to pay personal income tax less by a certain amount if citizens have children.
Thus, the tax deduction for the first and second child is 1,400 rubles, and for the third and subsequent children – 3,000 rubles. These amounts are calculated from the employee's earnings before income taxes are calculated. Accordingly, the salary of an employee with children will be paid at a rate higher by the amount of the tax deduction.
Marriage
In Russia, as throughout the world, marriage is considered to be the union of two persons who have reached marriageable age, based on their mutual and voluntary desire to become spouses. As modern society develops and new forms of marriage between people emerge, it becomes more difficult to identify a specific legal term for marriage. At the moment, there are more than 25 types of marriage unions in the world that exist in practice and are distinguished by legal consequences, purposes of conclusion, features of the form and other criteria.
Despite such a variety of types, it is rare that the state assumes the authority to recognize more than one or two forms of marriage. Thus, in addition to the traditional registered marriage between a man and a woman, due to existing trends today, many states also recognize:
- church marriages;
- same-sex marriage;
- civil partnerships are an unregistered type of union that is intermediate between cohabitation and official marriage;
- Polygamy is especially common in Muslim countries.
Find out in more detail what a marriage union is in Russia.
