ANNULMENT (NULLITY) OF A RUSSIAN MARRIAGE IN RUSSIA

Important Disclaimer

The below Family Law text on nullity (annulment) of a Russian marriage in Russia should be used for information purposes only and appropriate legal advice should be sought as and when appropriate.

For legal advice on annulment (nullity) of a Russian marriage in Russia contact Mr Maxim POLYAKOV, your Russian qualified lawyer, member of the Moscow City Bar Association, tel. +7-495-518-72-62, email maxim@arbitratus.ru (English or Russian).

The Family Code of the Russian Federation

Article 27. Recognizing the Marriage as Annulled

1. The marriage shall be recognized as annulled if the terms established by Articles 12-14 and by Item 3 of Article 15 of the present Code are violated, and also in the case of entering into a fictitious marriage, i.e., if the spouses, or one of the spouses registered the marriage without the intention to start a family.

2. A marriage shall be recognized as annulled by the court.

3. The court shall be obliged, within three days from the date of the court decision on recognizing the marriage as annulled coming into legal force, to forward an excerpt from this court decision to the registry office at the place of the state registration of the marriage.

4. A marriage shall be recognized as annulled as from the date of its registration (Article 10 of the present Code).

Article 28. The Persons Having the Right to Demand that a Marriage Be Recognized as Annulled

1. The right to demand that a marriage be recognized as annulled shall be possessed by:

- an underaged spouse, his parents (or the persons substituting for them), a guardianship and trusteeship body or the Prosecutor, if the marriage was entered into with a person who has not reached the marriageable age, in the absence of a permit for entering into a marriage before this person's reaching the marriageable age (Article 13 of the present Code). After the underaged spouse reaches the age of 18 years, the right to demand that the marriage be recognized as annulled shall belong only to this spouse;

- the spouse whose rights have been violated by registering the marriage, and also the Prosecutor, if the marriage was registered in the absence of the voluntary consent of one of the spouses entering into it: as a result of coercion, deceit, delusion or impossibility, because of his condition at the moment of registration of the marriage, to realize the meaning of his actions and to direct them;

- the spouse, who was not aware of the existence of the circumstances preventing the entering into a marriage, the guardian of the spouse, recognized as legally incapable, the spouse by a previous undissolved marriage, and other persons whose rights are violated by the formalization of the marriage, performed with a violation of the requirements of Article 14 of the present Code, and also the guardianship and trusteeship body and the Prosecutor;

- the Prosecutor, and also the spouse, who was not aware of the fact that the marriage was fictitious, in the case of entering into a fictitious marriage;

- the spouse whose rights are violated, in the face of the circumstances pointed out in Item 3, Article 15 of the present Code. 2. When considering a case on recognizing as annulled the marriage entered into with a person who has not reached the marriageable age, and also with a person recognized as incapable by the court, the guardianship and trusteeship body shall participate in the proceedings.

Article 29. The Circumstances Disallowing the Annulment of a Marriage

1. The court may recognize the marriage as valid, if by the moment of starting the hearings on the case on recognizing the marriage as annulled, the circumstances, which by force of law prevented its formalization, have disappeared.

2. The court may reject a claim for recognizing as annulled the marriage entered into with a person who has not reached the marriageable age, if this is required by the interests of the underaged spouse, and also if he does not give his consent to recognizing the marriage as annulled.

3. The court may not recognize the marriage as fictitious if the persons who registered such a marriage, have in fact started a family before the case was dealt with in court.

4. The marriage may not be recognized as annulled after its dissolution, with the exception of the existence of the law-prohibited degree of kinship between the spouses, or if one of the spouses consists, at the moment of registering the marriage, in another undissolved marriage (Article 14 of the present Code).

Article 30. The Consequences of Recognizing a Marriage as Annulled

1. A marriage recognized by the court as annulled shall not give rise to the rights or to the duties of the spouses, stipulated by the present Code, with the exception of the cases, pointed out in Item 4 and in Item 5 of the present Article.

2. Towards the property jointly acquired by the persons whose marriage is recognized as annulled, shall be applied the provisions of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation on shared property. The marriage contract, signed by the spouses (Articles 40-42 of the present Code), shall be recognized as invalid.

3. The recognition of a marriage as annulled shall not have any impact on the interests of the children, born in such a marriage or in the course of 300 days after the date, when the marriage was recognized as annulled (Item 2, Article 48 of the present Code).

4. When taking the decision on recognizing the marriage as annulled, the court may recognize the right of the spouse, whose rights were violated by the formalization of such a marriage (a bona fide spouse), to receive maintenance from the other spouse, in conformity with Article 90 and Article 91 of the present Code, and as concerns dividing the property jointly acquired before the moment when the marriage was recognized as annulled, it shall have the right to apply the provisions, laid down by Articles 34, 38 and 39 of the present Code, and also to recognize as valid, fully or in part, the marriage contract.

The bona fide spouse shall have the right to claim the compensation of material and moral damages, caused to him, according to the rules, stipulated by the civil legislation.

5. The bona fide spouse shall have the right, when the marriage is recognized as annulled, to preserve the surname, which he/she has chosen to assume in the state registration of entering into the marriage.

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Important Disclaimer

The below Family Law text on nullity (annulment) of a Russian marriage in Russia should be used for information purposes only and appropriate legal advice should be sought as and when appropriate.

For legal advice on annulment (nullity) of a Russian marriage in Russia contact Mr Maxim POLYAKOV, your Russian qualified lawyer, member of the Moscow City Bar Association, tel. +7-495-518-72-62, email maxim@arbitratus.ru (English or Russian).