An act is an action. A civil act implies the actions of citizens in relation to each other, public and state institutions on the basis of international and state law. These are also events that affect the emergence, change or termination of the rights and obligations of a citizen. For example, coming of age, becoming a citizen, gaining legal capacity or loss of legal capacity, change in marital status, etc.
The most important actions and events in a person's life are subject to mandatory state registration. These events and actions are called acts of civil status. Registration functions are carried out by special bodies of registration of acts of civil status (ZAGS). The main ones are: registration of birth and assignment of a name, registration of marriage and registration of the death of a citizen.
A corresponding entry is made on the state registration of an act in special act books, and on its basis a certificate of a strictly established form is issued. The approval of uniform samples of documents, the procedure and conditions for registration of acts is carried out under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation. In the future, if disputable situations arise between the parties that require changes or corrections to the civil status act, these procedures are possible only on the basis of a court decision.
With the registration of an act of civil status, a citizen is endowed with the corresponding rights and obligations. It is important to emphasize that the change and determination of the new status of a citizen is not the entry into certain civil relations, the new status appears only after official state registration. As an example, in connection with the changes in the laws in the direction of greater freedom of the individual, we can consider "civil" marriages. A man and a woman who decide to live together will not have the rights and obligations to the state and to each other until they legalize their relationship in the registry office. In particular, "common-law spouses" are not legally heirs of each other's property, unless this is stipulated by special notarized documents.
Also, biological death of a person is not the basis for the emergence of the right to inherit his property by relatives. This right comes only from the date of registration of the death of a citizen in the registry office and the extract of the "Death certificate" of the established form.
