The marriage treaty, like any other legal document, can be invalid. What are the foundations necessary to terminate the contract? What do you need to do to challenge the contract? How is the procedure for consideration of the claim in court? Where to turn if you think your marriage contract is unfair? We will answer these and many other questions in our article.
The main provisions of the marriage contract
Marriage contract - a document signed by spouses or persons who are married, which establishes the rights and obligations of each of them for the currently available property and as to what will appear in marriage, as well as determining that, to whom, and in What volume will go out after the divorce.
The institution of the marriage contract appeared for the first time in the domestic legislation in 1995 (Art. 256 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation), and later he focused on the Family Code in 1996 (IC RF). The regulatory regulation of the marriage contract is devoted to Chapter 8 of the RF IQ (Articles 41-44):
- The contract is defined as an agreement of the parties.
- It is established, in what cases the contract can be concluded: before registration of marriage or married. After a divorce, this contract cannot be concluded. If the contract is issued before the wedding, it will take effect not earlier than the day of the state registration of marriage.
- The contract (contract) must be written and necessarily certified by the notary.
- The parties are endowed with the possibility of choosing the regime of joint, equity or separate ownership of all the property, on its part (species) or the property of each of the spouses.
- The marriage contract can be adjusted only by property (material) issues: rights and obligations to keep each other, children, family spending. Intangible and personal relationships agreements are not regulated, that is, it is impossible to establish who deals with children, and who prepares and so on.
- It is forbidden to put one of the spouses into an unfavorable situation or include provisions contrary to family legislation. So, illegally include a position in the document, according to which, in the case of a divorce, one of the parties receives all the available property, and the other is nothing at all.
- The change / termination of the contract is allowed, as well as any civil transaction, by mutual agreement or in court.
- The law provides for the possibility of recognizing an agreement in court invalid, in full or partially, for reasons established by civil law.
- A contract can be recognized by invalid and at the request of that of spouses, which the contract is supplied to a vulnerable, unfavorable position.
More about the conditions that can and cannot be made to the marriage contract.
Despite the fact that not every family concludes a marriage contract, in our country a sustainable judicial practice of dispute resolution on such transactions has already been developed.
Grounds for invalidation
It is clear that the man and a woman seemingly deciding on the conclusion of a marriage contract that the property acquired in marriage will share otherwise than it is established in Art. 34 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation. They themselves decide exactly how it will be all acquired.
It happens that after a while, what seemed right when signing the document, may not arrange a husband or wife. It was then that the "disadvantaged" party may (and have the right) challenge the transaction in court as invalid.
Also is not a valid document, if the fact of family relations itself is illegal for any reason (invalid marriage) (paragraph 2 of Article 30 of the RF IC).
If in a marriage contract (agreement) there will be unlawful provisions, or during its preparation, signing, disorders were made (for example, the consequences of the distribution of property in a certain way, or had a coercion, pressure on one of future spouses, or someone It was misled against its property rights), subsequently such a document can be declared invalid, and, by decision of the court, which entered into force, will lose its strength.
The agreement is negligible:
- not certified notarized (or certified in improperly, without proper powers) (Art. 41 of the RF IC);
- signed by an incapable person (by virtue of mental illness or age) (Art. 176 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation);
- prisoner preferably, that is, for the cover of another transaction (for example, sales), or as an imaginary transaction, which does not intend to achieve the result provided by the norms of the law (for example, to remove ownership from under the threat of withdrawal) (Article 170 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation);
- limiting the inalienable human rights (the right to appeal to the court to receive material support for the disease, when careing for children, etc.), or includes conditions that cannot be regulated by the marital contract for definition (for example, about various household matters, Education, personal responsibilities) (paragraph 3 of Art. 42, paragraph 2 of Art. 44 of the RF IC).
Posted in doubt (claim) the contract if he:
- it was concluded under pressure (no matter what kind), fraudulently, using physical or psychological violence, under the influence of circumstances, so unfavorable for one of the parties to the contract, which would not be them, the contract would not be signed (Articles 178, 179 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation) ;
- contains conditions obviously (explicitly) infringerating the position of her husband or wife (paragraph 4 of Art. 44 of the RF IC);
- signed by a person limited by the court in legal capacity (no matter what reason) (Art. 176 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation);
- it was concluded at the time of finding one of the Parties to the Treaty in such a state that he did not give a report in his actions (due to illness, mental state, stress, under the influence of drugs, etc.) (Art. 178, 179 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).
An insignificant treaty is illegally acting from the very beginning, and the challenge - if it is possible to prove (find) the basis for which it will be recognized illegal.
Any of the above grounds, both included in the Treaty text, and the procedure of its conclusion (in front of it) makes it possible to raise its illegality.
Procedure
Wanting to establish the fact of invalidation of a marriage contract, the initiator will have to do a number of actions:
- justify the reason why the contract is illegal (does not work);
- calculate the limitation period;
- state their arguments and evidence in the statement (lawsuit);
- transfer the necessary documents to the court and take part in the meetings.
Consideration of cases related to family and property issues occurs at the magistrate or in the court of general jurisdiction (district), according to the rules of civil proceedings.
Marriage contract and limitation period
Deciding with the basis for which the plaintiff will seek the announcement of the document invalid, should be checked if the statute of limitations on this kind of cases (Article 181 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation) is missing. It depends on whether the transaction is insignificant, or the tasteless.
When the contract is trying to recognize invalid as an insignificant - the term is three years and is counted, starting:
- from the day when an insignificant transaction began to be executed than in this case there will be the beginning of the contract;
- from the day when a person who is not a party to the contract (they may be, for example, a child or another relative of the spouses) learned (it should have learn) about him.
When challenging the contract, the limitation period is only one year, counted:
- from the day, when circumstances (threats / violence / other impact) have stopped, pushing the face to signing (Art. 179 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation);
- from the day when the plaintiff learned / should have learn about the reasons that make a contract illegal.
It is important to know that the court will apply and beyond the limit of limitations. However, most likely, in a court session, the defendant will declare that such a term has already been missed. At the same time, according to the law, the claimant will be refused to satisfy the claims of the claimant (paragraphs 1, 2 of Article 199 of the Civil Code).
The statement of claim: who serves it
A husband, a wife (including after divorce), or a person (person), whose rights and interests are violated by this document (paragraph 2, Article 166 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation) on the cancellation of a marriage contract. The court may consider the reality of the contract on its own initiative.
When challenging the marriage contract, signed by an incapable / not fully capable person, a lawsuit may file a trustee. If, when making a marriage contract, the citizen who signed his citizen was not able to lead his actions, he could declare that he himself, as well as the one whose interests were violated by the action of the contract.
Most often, legal assistance will be required to recognize the contract, especially if the lawsuit contains material claims.
Consideration of the claim in court
According to Art. 132 of the Civil Code when submitting a statement to the court, it is applied to it:
- copies of the claim in the number of persons involved (the defendant, notary, who made the contract at one time);
- copies of marriage certificate, treaties, documents supporting the position of the plaintiff.
Additionally, the state duty is paid. The consideration of the claim on the contract relates to non-property (not having expressions in money) requirements, the duty for which is 300 rubles. (PP.3 p. 1 Art. 333.19 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). If, along with the main requirement, the plaintiff claims to any property, the amount of duties is calculated from the price of the claim. According to the Tax Code (Art. 333.19) will be paid from 400 rubles. up to 60 thousand rubles.
The state duty is credited to the details of a particular court, which is chosen at the place of residence of the other side (respondent). This may be a magistrate (if the requirements do not exceed 300 thousand rubles), or the district court (with larger requirements). Depending on the composition of the requirements, the workload of the court and a number of other reasons, the consideration of the case can stretch much longer than the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation for 1-2 months.
Interesting video in the topic:
Unfavorable states of the contract as a reason for the claim
Article 43 of the Family Code emphasizes the prohibition to include in the marriage contract the conditions that put one of the pair in an extremely unfavorable position. If this happened, the contract can be tried to declare invalid (paragraph 2 of Art. 44 of the RF IC).
The classical and most striking example serve the marriage contracts, according to which the property of each spouse is (will be) the property of that of them, on whose name is decorated / registered.
For example, if over the time the spouse, doing business, succeeds, then the spouse, doing the house and children, remains with the original property. In the case of a divorce, she has nothing to claim, because all the cost - the ownership of the husband. Having considered his position unfair, a woman can try to challenge the contract signed by it.
However, nor the Family Code nor other laws give the definition of a "extremely unfavorable position" and do not contain characteristics that would reveal it. In the given situation, the court probably considers that, when concluding the contract, the parties issued a report in their actions, the notary explained to them both the rights and obligations and the legal consequences of the transaction, including the deviation from the equality of equality of interest to the property acquired in marriage, and refuses to recognize the contract invalid.
According to the definition of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation on the concept of a "extremely unfavorable position" (No. 779-oh-o 21.06.2011), such a formulation in the Family Code does not indicate the uncertainty of the norm itself, since the diversity of circumstances does not allow them to list them all in law. In each individual case associated with the marital contract, the Court examines the terms of the contract and allows us to consider specific circumstances.
The design of the marriage contract is still coming far from every couple that marries. Its a big plus is a clear distinction between personal, common and joint property, the issues of the property section in the event of a divorce, but since all the circumstances of life cannot be foreseen, it is impossible to exclude the probability of judicial challenge of reality in the future.