Is a marriage certificate taken away upon divorce?

From the moment of birth, every person is subject to registration, then all important events in his life will also be clearly documented by the state. Both at the birth of a child, a certificate is issued, and at the birth of new families, a corresponding document is issued. Many people are interested in whether a marriage certificate is taken away during a divorce, because in fact the family ceases to exist, does it need documentary evidence? The answer to this question is clearly regulated by the state and even corresponds to a certain article in the Family Code.

Are marriage certificates taken from spouses during a divorce and for what reasons?

Upon divorce, the marriage certificate is confiscated from the former spouses by the civil registry office staff to transfer this civil status act to the archive. This provision is established by the law “On Archival Affairs in the Russian Federation”. However, what exactly will be taken from you: the original or a duplicate, depends on the discretion of the registry office employees. The court may also take away the original document from you for inclusion in the case file sent to the archive. To prevent this from happening, you should never attach original official papers to your statement of claim. You only need to bring originals to court hearings.

What is given in return

In a situation with spouses who have already divorced and received a certificate of termination of the marriage union between them, the registry office can act in relation to the marriage certificate in two different ways:

1. On the original certificate confirming the fact of the marriage between the spouses, the authorized civil registry office employee puts a stamp marked “Invalid”. This is an official confirmation that a document has lost its legal force. Next, he makes a copy of this paper in order to remove it and add it to the archival data. In this case, the original certificate may remain with the former spouses.
2. Civil registry office employees take away from the wife and husband a certificate certifying the fact of registration of family relations, citing the fact that at any time former participants in family relations can receive a certificate containing the same information as the original document. They should not be allowed to do this. It is necessary to request a copy certified by an authorized employee to be made instead of the original, which is confiscated by the registry office. If a government agency refuses to comply with your demands, seek protection from the court, because the registry office has no right to irrevocably take away your certificate. You must have at least a copy of this document in your possession.

In the event that the original certificate certifying the fact of the marriage union was seized by the judicial authority and sent to the court archive, there is only one opportunity to obtain a copy of it. To do this, you will need to submit an application to the registry office, which was responsible for registering the marriage relationship, with a request to provide a certificate of previous marriage.

If the government agency where you got married is located in another city, then in order to get a duplicate, you will need to go to this locality to get it.

In addition, the following life situation may arise: a judicial authority is considering a divorce case, and the defendant and plaintiff do not have marriage certificates. In this case, the interested person, who, as a rule, is the plaintiff, requests a duplicate through the registry office. Since this is not the first time the spouse has received the certificate, government officials mark it as “Repeated.”

This is done so that it is impossible to use the original, since the conclusion of the registry office, which formalizes the issuance of a duplicate, deprives the legal force of the first document.

Divorce methods

There are two ways to divorce: through the registry office or in court. Their choice depends on circumstances and reasons. Such circumstances include:

• absence or presence of mutual consent between husband and wife;
• whether the family has a small child;
• Is it necessary to divide property during the divorce process?

Since getting a divorce at the registry office is much easier and faster, many people prefer to choose this method. But it is not available to everyone. The registry office should be contacted in the following cases:

• if both spouses do not want to be married anymore, and their children are already adults (mutual consent);
• if one and the spouses are in prison (without the consent of the prisoner);
• if the spouse is officially declared missing or incompetent by a court decision (without the presence and consent of the second spouse).

Since filing for divorce through the registry office is not always possible, many have to go to court. This method is suitable for the following cases:

• only one of the spouses wants to divorce;
• there is no possibility of peacefully dividing jointly acquired property;
• the family has small children;
• parents cannot come to a common decision about with whom and where their children will live.

If the spouses have resolved all the issues together, then the trial will not last long, even if there are children.

A package of documents and the procedure for submitting them for divorce at the registry office

Divorce through the registry office is the easiest and fastest. Accordingly, in this case the package of papers to be collected is minimal. It consists of the following documents:

• statement;
• passports;
• original marriage certificate;
• confirmation of payment of state duty.

To save time on paperwork, it is better to familiarize yourself in advance with the procedure for submitting the necessary papers to the relevant authorities. The order is as follows:

• All papers are submitted and signed by each spouse personally. In the event that one person cannot be present when submitting documents for a good reason, he provides a statement certified by a notary asking for their acceptance.
• If one of the spouses is in prison, then it is necessary to obtain his consent in writing, certified by the management of the prison.
• Conveniently submit documents online. A special form is filled out and the necessary data is entered. At a convenient time, you can go to the registry office and bring not copies, but originals, and sign the application.

List of documents and their submission to court

The list of documents that need to be submitted to the court is predetermined.
There may be some difference in the list. This is due to the region of residence. Each area may require additional samples, so this will need to be verified before deciding on a divorce. If the couple has reached an agreement on all issues, then all the papers must be taken to the magistrate's court. When there are unresolved disputes, you must contact the district court at your place of residence. The list of papers for the court will be somewhat large:

• Statement. It is drawn up by both spouses with mutual consent and is not filled out in detail. If there is no consent of one partner, the other draws up a statement detailing the reasons for divorce.
• Passports of both spouses or one of them if the other does not agree to the divorce. Passports must be originals.
• Children's birth certificates are provided and copies can be made. They must be certified by a notary.
• Certificate of family composition.
• Original marriage certificate.
• Confirmation of payment of state duty.

As you can see, more papers need to be collected, and in both cases an original certificate is required. Copies are not accepted for consideration either at the registry office or in court. So we come to the question of how to act for people who do not have the original marriage certificate in their hands.

Is it necessary and possible to file for divorce without a marriage certificate?

The main documents that spouses must submit to the registry office or court for divorce are...

• Application (statement of claim) for divorce;
• Passport of wife and husband;
• Marriage certificate;
• Receipt or check for payment of state duty;

This package of basic documents can be supplemented depending on the circumstances (for example, with documents such as children’s birth certificates, income and medical certificates, documents on the acquisition of material assets, etc.), but cannot be reduced. All of the above documents are required for divorce.

For those spouses who, although getting a divorce, for some reason do not have a marriage certificate, the law offers several ways to resolve the problem:

1. Restoration of data according to the registration number of the act and/or date of marriage - simultaneously with filing an application for divorce to the registry office that registered the marriage.
2. Filing a claim for divorce and a petition for the court to request a marriage certificate if the second spouse withholds the document.
3. Obtaining a duplicate marriage certificate if the document is lost or damaged . And after that - applying for a divorce to any registry office or court with a duplicate certificate that has the legal force of the original.

Thus, the loss, damage or inability to return a document in the possession of a spouse or other person is not an obstacle to divorce.

How to confirm that there was a marriage

Seizure procedure

How can I get a copy of my marriage certificate after a divorce? This option is officially impossible. A citizen can apply for an extract of the union. The document has the force of the original.

The procedure for confiscating a certificate from owners:

• the initiator submits the document to the registry office;
• it is accompanied by an application for divorce through the registry office, a court decision on the dissolution of the union or a court order;
• the applicant pays the fee and provides a receipt;
• a specialist from the district registry office accepts documents;
• a divorce stamp is affixed to the certificate;
• documents are returned to the applicant;
• a divorce certificate is prepared and issued;
• passports are stamped.

These actions do not necessarily have to be carried out jointly by the parties. Former spouses can contact the district registry office at a convenient time. The fee is paid by each citizen separately.

How to confirm that a marriage is dissolved

According to the twenty-fifth article of the Family Code, spouses were able to officially divorce when the registry office made an appropriate entry in the book registering acts of civil status, or when the court decision in the divorce case came into force.

The document that is transferred to both former spouses and confirms the breakdown of family relations between them is a certificate of termination of marriage issued by the registry office.

If it becomes unusable or destroyed, you can obtain a second certificate from the registry office by submitting the appropriate application and paying a fee of 350 rubles to the state treasury.

The legislative framework

How long is the document valid?

A certificate of state registration of marriage is valid for an unlimited period. The document loses its relevance if the marital status of the spouses has changed since the receipt of the certificate.

The applicant can contact the registry office to obtain a marriage certificate, both in case of loss of documents confirming the conclusion of the union, and for other purposes, for example, applying for social benefits. Married spouses who have broken the marriage bond are issued certificates of two different forms (No. 27 and No. 28), but the state duty for their issuance is the same equal to 200 rubles.

It will be useful for you to learn more about documents for marriage:

• Application for marriage registration.
• Documents for registering relations with a foreigner.
• Rules for replacing a passport after marriage.

The fastest way to complete the document is to personally visit the registry office where the marriage took place, but the applicant can choose any of the possible ones (personal application, mail, MFC, State Services).