Civil marriage and official: legal advantages and disadvantages

Differences between official and civil unions

There are a number of differences between an ordinary cohabitation of partners and an officially registered family. Each form of marriage has its own advantages and disadvantages.

The main ones are presented in the table.

The issue of property and debts

One of the arguments in favor of cohabitation is the couple's reluctance to have a lavish wedding. Considering yourself responsible and competent, it is necessary to draw up property documents. Thus, to protect your rights during cohabitation, you need to seek the help of a lawyer in order to further protect yourself and your partner:

1. Settle one's affairs.
2. Allocate shares in property purchased during the period of cohabitation.
3. When applying for loans for joint purposes, divide the amount in half.

All of these measures are purely voluntary, as is living together. They do not require large financial costs, however, they can protect each party in the event of an emergency.

Each cohabitant is responsible for his own debts and loans. This rule applies even when using this money to purchase property for common use, as a gift to a cohabitant, or when registering ownership of it.

Official spouses are responsible for each other's debts. In case of divorce, the court may decide to divide the loan amount.

This issue can be resolved through a marriage contract or division of property. Cohabitants do not have such rights.

In the event of the death of one of the cohabitants, the second has no rights to his property, including that acquired during the period of cohabitation. This issue can be resolved with the help of a will drawn up in advance.

This document can be challenged by interested citizens. For example, children of the deceased. After marriage, a person is the heir of the first priority. Therefore, he will become the owner of the property of the deceased along with his parents and children. And it is impossible to challenge his right.

Legislative aspects of registration of relations

In Russia, both civil and officially registered marriages are regulated by legislative acts. An official marriage union falls under the scope of the country's Family Law. It determines the basic subtleties of family relationships, emerging rights and obligations.

The union of a man and a woman without official registration is regulated by the norms of civil relations. The rights and obligations provided for by the Family Code do not apply to civil marriage. For example, in a legal marriage, each spouse has personal and property rights and rights in relation to children. Cohabitation does not provide for the emergence of such rights. In addition, common-law spouses cannot enter into a marriage contract.

For example, officially unregistered cohabitation does not provide for the emergence of responsibilities provided for by an official family. Young people feel more free, preferring this form of relationship.

Another advantage of an unregistered union is the quick and hassle-free procedure for separation in the event of insurmountable disagreements. While the divorce procedure in an officially registered family is lengthy and will require good moral stability from both spouses. Some couples are trying to improve their relationship after going through a difficult divorce process.

What is better: a regular marriage or an informal cohabitation?

It is impossible to unequivocally answer the question about the advantages of each form of living and building relationships in a couple. Today, many people are choosing to cohabitate. This is due to a change in views towards the institution of marriage, the ease of building new relationships after a breakup, etc.

However, entering into a family union somewhat protects partners in the event of relationship dissolution. In this case, there are many legal instruments that are not applicable in a cohabitation situation.

From a moral and social point of view, today there is no such vehement condemnation of cohabitation as there was several decades ago.

However, in many regions of the country even today marriage is the only acceptable form of residence for a man and a woman. That is why all the advantages and disadvantages of each option are relative.

Child in a registered and unregistered family

After the birth of a child in an officially registered family, spouses become parents with all the ensuing rights and obligations. They are both obliged to raise, support, educate the child, and take part in his life. In case of divorce, the rights and obligations regarding the offspring do not disappear. A parent left without children is obliged to provide financial support until they reach adulthood.

If a child was born in a civil marriage, then the father, in order to obtain rights to the child, will have to recognize him in court and do a DNA test. The disadvantage of having children in unregistered families is that if the man refuses to be tested, paternity will not be established. The mother will have to “raise” the children alone, educate and raise them.

At the same time, a man who refuses to acknowledge paternity has no rights in relation to children. He will not be able to be their heir, represent their interests, or participate in their upbringing and education.

How to formalize paternity on a child’s birth certificate without marriage?

If the spouses have registered the relationship, then the question of establishing the paternity of the child does not arise in the standard case. To obtain a child’s birth certificate, it is sufficient for only one parent to appear at the registry office. No document establishing paternity is issued.

If the couple has not registered the relationship, the procedure for obtaining documents for the child looks different and consists of several steps:

1. the presence of both parents is mandatory if the man agrees to acknowledge paternity;
2. confirmation of the position regarding the indication of the father in the appropriate column. If a man does not agree, he may simply not appear at the registry office, and in this case the “father” column in the child’s birth certificate will be empty.

With the consent of the father, his name is included in the birth certificate and a special document provided in the absence of an officially registered marriage.

It is worth noting that regardless of the formalization of the union, the responsibilities of parents towards their children do not differ.

Property relations

The division of property between family partners depends on the method of registration of ownership:

• shared ownership;
• jointly acquired property.

The spouse cannot claim property acquired before entering into a marriage relationship. If the purchase of a car, residential real estate, land, etc. was made after the registration of the relationship, then each of the spouses owns half of the acquired property. But allocation of a share is possible only in case of divorce. Often, the divorcing spouse will sell his or her share to the other to receive compensation.

When the relationship is not registered, the property belongs to only one of the spouses. If it was acquired after the start of their life together, then the owner will be the partner to whom the property is registered.

If there is no title documentation providing for shared ownership, then in order to divide the property the court will need to present evidence confirming the fact of the joint purchase. To do this, you will need to save checks, contracts, receipts and other evidence. Also, the court will need to bring witnesses who can confirm the fact of the joint purchase.

What is the difference between a civil marriage and an official one in 2020?

The presence of a significant legal difference between a civil and official marriage does not frighten many spouses. The presence of a stamp in the passport is not mandatory for them. Spouses create full-fledged families, maintain a joint budget, while registration of the relationship occurs at a later period or is not carried out at all.

From a legal point of view, there is a significant difference between civil (unofficial) and official marriage. It lies not only in the presence of a stamp in the passport and the possibility of changing the last name, but also in other extremely important aspects:

Debt repayment obligations

In an officially registered family, the income and expenses of the spouses are considered common. If one of the couple has issued credit obligations, then both the husband and wife must repay the debt. If the borrower does not fulfill his obligations to the credit institution, then claims will be brought against the second spouse.

The difference with a civil marriage is that cohabitation without official registration implies the absence of a common income and personal responsibility for personal debt obligations. If one of the common-law spouses takes out a loan and does not fulfill their duties, then financial organizations will not be able to demand repayment of the debt from the partner.

What is cohabitation between a man and a woman?

Official marriage relations are registered with the Civil Registry Office.
However, today not all couples seek to formalize a union. It is fashionable to call living together without registering a union a civil marriage, but this term is not entirely appropriate. From a legal point of view, it is correct to call it cohabitation. It is this concept that fully reflects all the features of such relationships.

Inheritance rights

If there is an officially registered relationship, the husband and wife will be the heirs of the 1st stage in the event of the death of one of them. In this case, a will will not be required. All property of the deceased will be divided equally among the closest relatives. If there are none, then the widower becomes the sole owner.

But there are cases when a testamentary document is drawn up, but the widower is not named in it. Then the living spouse may be left with nothing, which is the reason for long legal proceedings with the heirs.

In the absence of a stamp in the passport, it is possible to obtain the property of a deceased spouse only if the former cohabitant is indicated in the will. In its absence, the common-law spouse has virtually no chance of receiving property. According to the law, common-law spouses are in the 4th line of inheritance (after children, parents, siblings). A similar rule applies to children whose paternity has not been established.

Legal significance of de facto marital relations

It is possible that soon actual residence for a certain number of years will be equated to marriage. However, today this is not the case. That is why cohabitants do not have the corresponding rights and responsibilities that legal spouses have. This is one of the disadvantages in certain cases.

Thus, it is possible to formalize family relationships or simply live together. Today, both options exist, and each couple chooses the most convenient for themselves. However, there is a huge difference between the legal rights and responsibilities of married and non-married partners.

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The difference between civil marriage and cohabitation

If jointly acquired property was registered in the name of a deceased cohabitant, the surviving partner, in exceptional cases and with great difficulty, manages to prove his right to a share in the remaining property. Unfortunately, few cohabiting couples discuss such issues during their lifetime, but failure to resolve such property issues can lead to tragedy.

• Option 1. The Ivanovs purchased a car, a refrigerator and an apartment during their marriage. The apartment was registered in the name of the wife, and the car in the name of the husband. After divorce, all property must be divided in half as jointly acquired property in accordance with Article 38 of the RF IC, unless a marriage contract or a notarial agreement on the division of jointly acquired property has been concluded.
• Option 2. If the marriage was not registered in the registry office and Ivanov cohabited with Petrova for some time. During their cohabitation, the same property was acquired with common money as in option 1. Let us assume that after the end of their cohabitation, the cohabitants were unable to voluntarily agree on the division of property. In this case, Ivanov will not be able to claim the apartment, and Petrova will not be able to claim the car. In the case of a refrigerator, it will go to the person who has the documents for it. If this is Ivanov, then only in court by filing a civil lawsuit will he be able to prove that he purchased the refrigerator and temporarily lent it to Petrova. Of course, a knowledgeable lawyer will try to find other options for dividing property, but there must be grounds for this, time to do this and money to pay legal costs.

Features of cohabitation

Cohabitation is a couple living together in the same territory without going to the registry office. Practice shows that more and more modern people are gravitating towards this form of relationship, since cohabitation does not oblige them to anything: after separation there is no need to divide joint property, disputes about children are also rare.

At the same time, statistical data demonstrate the following fact: in unregistered relationships, single mothers often appear, raising children without a father. In addition, the woman and child risk being left without alimony payments and any other material support from the man.

Pros and cons of cohabitation

Rights of cohabitants when dividing property

Birth of a child: registration, choice of surname, place of residence

Children born in an unregistered marriage enjoy the same rights as children born in an official marriage. The child’s surname and place of residence are determined by the norms of the Family Code of the Russian Federation. But there are a number of nuances.

When registering a child with the civil registry office, the father writes a statement of paternity. If he refuses to do this, paternity can only be proven through the court (Article 48, Family Code of the Russian Federation). According to the Family Code of 1995, unlike the previous one, the court accepts any evidence of paternity. But genetic testing can only be carried out with the consent of the child’s alleged father. If a man wants to prove paternity, consent to a medical examination will also be required. If the child is under 18 years old - from the mother, and after reaching adulthood - from the child himself.

Children are a third party in a “civil marriage”

The place of residence of a child in a de facto marriage is determined by agreement of the parties. If the consent of the separated parents cannot be achieved, the issue is resolved in court. Representatives of the guardianship and trusteeship authorities must be present at the process. Before the court makes a decision, they determine where the child will live. From the age of ten, the child’s own opinion is taken into account. The same rules of the Family Code apply as in the case of parental divorce:

The place of residence of children in the event of separation of parents is established by agreement of the parents.

In the absence of an agreement, the dispute between the parents is resolved by the court based on the interests of the children and taking into account the opinions of the children. In this case, the court takes into account the child’s attachment to each of the parents, brothers and sisters, the child’s age, moral and other personal qualities of the parents, the relationship existing between each parent and the child, the possibility of creating conditions for the child’s upbringing and development (occupation, work schedule of the parents , financial and marital status of parents, etc.).

Art. 65 clause 3, Family Code of the Russian Federation dated December 29, 1995 N 223-FZ (as amended on December 30, 2015)

When there is a break between “common-law spouses”, child support can only be obtained through the court, proving the fact of paternity. This is possible at any time, regardless of the child’s age. After reaching the age of eighteen, he applies for child support himself.

Housing issue

When purchasing housing in a civil marriage, spouses often do not know that the property will belong to the person in whose name the property is registered. It is better to buy joint housing as shared ownership. If the purchased housing is not listed as shared ownership, the right to it will have to be proven in court. According to changes in the law, real estate transactions require the consent of the spouse who is not the owner of the property. In an informal marriage relationship, if the property is registered in the name of a cohabitant, it is possible to sell or make another transaction with real estate without the consent of the second spouse.

Civil marriage and open relationships, what's the difference?

In my opinion, there are many reasons for the reluctance to immediately legitimize family relationships, including subjective and personal ones. But, most often, there are the following: 1. This is now so fashionable, it is now so accepted and modern. 2. Having been burned in the first official marriage, having experienced problems with its dissolution, they are afraid of officialdom again. 3. This state of affairs, civil marriage, like any permanent and familiar event in life, drags on - everyday life and so on - somehow I no longer think that I should go register. 4. People, in reality, although they live together and as expected, but doubt the strength and durability of this family, often without fully realizing it. 5. This marriage is built on a lie: one or both perceive it as a temporary phenomenon in their lives, as a “make-believe” marriage, usually pursuing their own mercantile interests.

What about the muse? Yes, if you delve into the personal life, behind the back of ANY figure in art, science and politics, there is nothing more than SEXUAL relations with a representative or representatives of the opposite sex. And above all, it is spiritual relationships, not sexual ones. Including such odious ones, for example, as Stalin or Hitler. Or the unfortunate homosexual Tchaikovsky.