Concept and legal consequences of divorce
Content
A large legal dictionary gives the following interpretation of divorce: it is an official confirmation of the termination of the marriage relationship between a woman and a man, the only basis for the annulment of mutual legal obligations and rights.
Table No. 1 “Consequences of ending a marriage”
| Category of consequences | Peculiarities |
| Property | According to the articles of the Family and Civil Code of Russia, material assets acquired after the wedding and before the moment of divorce are recognized as common. All goods acquired after the official registration of the termination of the marriage will be considered personal property. The ex-husband will not be able to claim it |
| Financial | The income of the spouses is common, so the spending of money is carried out by mutual consent. Divorce is the basis for maintaining separate budgets. The second partner cannot make claims for profits after the divorce is officially confirmed |
| Hereditary | Husband/wife are the first priority applicants for inheritance benefits. Divorce deprives the former spouse of the right to inherit property |
| Psychological | An important commitment of marriage is mutual support, care during disability, communication and respect. After a divorce, communication issues are resolved individually. A couple can stop communicating completely or remain good friends. |
| Social | The assignment of social preferences and benefits to families occurs only in relation to the man and woman who have officially registered the union. Civil marriage is not accepted by Russian law. Divorce is the basis for the recalculation of benefits and, in most cases, their complete cancellation |
| Parental | The rights and responsibilities of a mother/father do not disappear with the dissolution of a marriage. The parent is still involved in the life of his child, protects and supports him. Regardless of the fact of separation, the ex-spouse makes important decisions regarding the upbringing, development, and maturation of the child. For children born 300 days or more after the divorce, the former spouse will not automatically be recognized as the father |
Property issue
Property disputes are covered in darkness with all sorts of nuances and pitfalls.
An ordinary person cannot handle this on his own in court; he needs professional legal assistance. It is important to know this point - after the court decision is considered officially legalized, the spouses may not immediately solve the problem with the division of property; they have three years to do this. However, during this time, even after the divorce, all real estate and other property is considered community property. This means that both parties have the right to use it.
In the event that the spouses have to formalize the divorce not through the registry office, but through the court, it is advisable for them to try to come to an agreement among themselves and draw up an agreement. The more disputes, the longer the trial will take. If there is an agreement, everything is resolved much faster and no legal assistance is required.
Attention! Due to recent changes in legislation, the legal information in this article may be out of date! Our lawyer can advise you free of charge - write your question in the form below:
Methods of divorce
Family law provides for several ways to terminate a marriage, available on the territory of the Russian Federation.
Table No. 2 “Divorce procedures”
| Competent authority | Grounds for appeal |
| District Court |
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| Magistrate's Court |
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| Civil registry office general order |
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| Simplified procedure at the registry office |
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The grounds and circumstances indicated in the table apply to the divorce of Russian citizens and foreign nationals who have confirmed their marriage in the Russian Federation.
Procedure for divorce
The timing, cost and procedure for divorce depend on individual circumstances and the chosen procedure for ending the union.
Table No. 3 “Algorithm of actions of participants”
| Appeal to the district/magistrate court | Divorce in the civil registry office |
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The beginning of divorce proceedings in one instance does not mean that the dispute will not later be redirected to another.
For example:
- if, after submitting an application to the registry office, it is established that the couple has children, the participants file a claim in court;
- When resolving the issue in the magistrate's court, an unresolvable conflict arose. The judge with jurisdiction transfers the material to the nearest federal court of general jurisdiction.
The moment of divorce by court decision
After the final court decision is made, the parties have the right to appeal the verdict to the appellate court. The law allows 30 days for this. If during this period the participants have not expressed a desire to change the decision made, then the document comes into force.
The content of the decision itself states that in the absence of an appeal, the document acquires legal force on a specific day.
The moment of termination of marriage through the court is the date when the judicial conclusion enters into legal force. Then, within 3 days, an employee of the court secretariat transfers the original decision to the nearest registry office to enter information about the divorce into the unified register.
To obtain separate copies of the marriage termination certificate, spouses must contact the registry office. The document will be needed to confirm divorce in legal transactions. The period when a man and woman must contact the civil registry office is not limited by law.
The moment of divorce through the registry office
After receiving the spouses' applications for divorce, each of them is given a counterfoil - a notification indicating the date when they need to arrive at the registry office for a certificate. Until this day, the couple can withdraw their application at any time. If you do not want to reconcile, a note about the divorce is entered into the unified register on the specified date. This will be the moment the marriage ends. Spouses can see the date of divorce on the certificate.
Termination of a marriage through the registry office
The moment of termination of a marriage, recorded by the territorial registry office, is the day from which the marriage is recognized as completely dissolved, and the fact is recorded in a civil status act. The Family Code defines this point in paragraph 1 of Article 25.
The prerequisite for starting the divorce procedure is an application from the married couple or separately from each representative. The territorial authority does not consider an application submitted by only one spouse. With the exception of the moments provided for at the legislative level, namely: the disappearance, incapacity or imprisonment of one of the parties to the process of dissolution of the marriage. In this situation, the application must be accompanied by a copy or original of the court decision confirming one of the reasons.
Termination of a marriage through the registry office
Obtaining a divorce certificate
Table No. 4 “Divorce Certificate”
| Circumstances | MARRIAGE REGISTRY | Court |
| Order |
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| Term | 30 days from the date of filing the petition for divorce | 10-15 days from the date of transfer of the court decision |
| Documentation |
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Divorce stamp in passport
When issuing a completed certificate, the registry office employee makes a note about the divorce in the passport of each spouse. It contains information about the date of dissolution of the union and the registration number of entering data into the register.
A stamp in your passport is not required, but if you are involved in legal transactions and do not have a divorce certificate on hand, a stamp will allow you to confirm the official end of the union.
Court without the participation of one spouse
Sometimes a divorce trial takes place without the presence of one of the spouses. The law does not prohibit this. The reasons for this can be either disrespectful (the goal is to delay the divorce process) or valid. For example, a spouse may be absent from court because:
- is in a hospital or sanatorium in another region;
- went on a business trip;
- lives in another country;
- is unable to move because he is a person with disabilities.
To find out the court decision and the date of divorce by court decision, you need to:
- send a letter to the court that heard the case. The request may take up to 30 days to complete;
- call the judge’s secretary or assistant, but there is a possibility that court staff will not answer such questions over the phone;
- find information about the divorce process on the official website of this court. This is a very real way to find out the divorce date via the Internet. But in order to do this, you need to reliably know the address of the court of peace to which the application was submitted, and look at the schedule of hearings. It will also be necessary to enter the full name of both the originator of the claim and the defendant. You can check such information on the website of the district court by filling out the column indicating the surname, first name of the plaintiff and defendant. This way you can find out the date of divorce by full name.
Other reasons for ending a marriage
Special cases:
- Recognition of a partner as missing in court. Declaration as missing does not in itself provide for an automatic divorce. But now the spouse has the right to apply to terminate the union unilaterally through the registry office.
- The death of a partner does not give the right to divorce. The second spouse is considered a widower, that is, he retains a number of marital rights and obligations (for example, inheritance). You just have to contact the registry office to obtain a person’s death certificate.
Dissolution of a marriage due to the death of a spouse
Article 16 of the Family Code regulates the conduct of a special procedure for dissolution of a marriage union associated with the death of a representative of a married couple. The fact of termination is confirmed based on the following circumstances:
- documented fact of death;
- recognition of death by the court.
In both cases, no special documents are required to confirm a dissolved marriage. A marriage at the official level is dissolved from the moment of death of one of the representatives of the married couple or from the date of entry into legal force of the decision recognizing the fact of death. The fundamental document certifying the moment of divorce due to the death of a spouse is the death registration certificate provided by the territorial civil registry office.
After divorce, the legal relationship between parents and children continues to apply.
Lawyer's answers to frequently asked questions
My husband and I filed an application for divorce in court, and the court made a decision. What will be considered the date of divorce: the date the court decision enters into legal force or the issuance of a divorce certificate?
From the moment the court decision enters into legal force, the spouses are considered divorced.
How long after the divorce from my ex-husband can I submit an application to the registry office for a new marriage?
The law does not limit the right to register new marital relations after the termination of the previous union. You can submit an application for registration after the civil registry office employees have entered information about the divorce into the unified register (after receiving the divorce certificate).
Three months ago I received a court decision on divorce, but did not contact the registry office. Can there be any consequences and is the marriage considered dissolved?
Yes, the marriage is completely over. Mutual rights and obligations are lost. Information about the divorce has already been entered by civil registry officials into the unified register. You can apply for a certificate (original, duplicate, copy) at any time. There is no penalty for ignoring requirements. But without a certificate, the spouse will not be able to take part in legal transactions or enter into a new marriage.
Judicial practice related to the moment of dissolution of marital relations
Usually, there are no difficulties in determining the date from which the divorce is considered completed. Information about the moment of termination may be needed, first of all, when dividing property that occurs after a divorce. Thus, in 2013, the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow ordered the defendant (ex-husband) to compensate the plaintiff for her share in the apartment, which was purchased several months before the divorce, and sold by the defendant several months after the court decision on ending their relationship. When selling the apartment, the plaintiff’s opinion was not taken into account by the defendant.
Difficulties are caused by the countdown of the statute of limitations, after which it will be impossible to file a claim for division of property. This period is in this case three years. There is no clearly established rule in the law to count it from the moment of divorce or from any other date. The Civil Code of the Russian Federation has Art. 200, paragraph 1 of which states that the statute of limitations is counted from the moment a person learns that his rights have been violated. However, determining this point in relation to divorced people is not so easy. Judges tend to favor an exact date - the date of termination of the relationship, determined in accordance with the law. It is on this that they rely when making their decisions in cases concerning the division of property (for example, in 2002, the court rejected a claim for the redistribution of joint property acquired during a marriage, which was dissolved in 1998, pointing out that the plaintiff knew that her rights were being violated from the moment the court decided to divorce, but did not file a claim within the prescribed period.
Thus, in order to protect your rights to a share in property acquired jointly during marriage, you should go to court no later than three years after the relationship is terminated, and the date of termination should be determined in accordance with Art. 25 IC RF.
