Such a form of living together as a civil marriage occurs quite often and is perceived quite naturally - as a union of two loving people. But such a marriage does not provide spouses with any property guarantees and rights in the case when it comes to divorce and division of property.
Civil marriage and the law
A civil marriage, which is not officially registered, in its essence is simply a joint residence of a man and a woman, even if they are leading a joint household. Until they have a mark and state registration of marriage in their passports, they will not even be able to confirm their relationship in the face of the church and get married. Moreover, such a marriage does not have any legal consequences in the face of the state. None of the existing laws regulate or regulate such relations.
The state was only concerned about not violating the rights of children born in such a marriage. In the event that a common-law spouse is entered in the child's birth certificate in the "Father" column, upon divorce, if the child remains with his mother, he has exactly the same right to receive alimony as a child born in an officially registered marriage.
As for the property, which in the case of an officially registered marriage, is considered jointly acquired, in the case of a civil marriage, it belongs to the one to whom it is registered or to the one in whose apartment it is located, as well as to the one by whom it was acquired. Therefore, the division of property in the case of a civil marriage is a complex and troublesome procedure in which each of the former spouses will have to prove their right to own this or that thing by presenting evidence of this right - checks, donations, sales contracts.
Evidence base for the division of property
In the case when there is irrefutable evidence that a man and a woman led a joint existence that meets all the signs of family life - they had a joint household, they jointly paid utility bills, jointly acquired real estate and expensive indivisible things, Chapter 16 of the Civil Code comes into effect. of the RF Code. This chapter regulates relations between two or more citizens who have joint property in common property, which cannot be divided without changing its purpose. The law refers to such property real estate, cars, expensive household appliances. When dividing property falling under Art. 244 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, if there are documents confirming participation in its acquisition by one of the spouses, he can expect that the court will recognize his right to share ownership.
To do this, the court must present evidence:
- the fact of living together for a certain period;
- the fact of joint management of a common economy;
- the fact that those living in a civil marriage did not share this property and considered it joint;
- the fact of joint participation in the acquisition of the disputed property with the presentation of documents showing how much money was invested by each of the former spouses.
The evidence base should also include the testimony of witnesses, information about the income of each of the cohabitants, general information about the costs of running a household made by each of them.
