I can’t bear to get married: early marriages in Russia and the nuances of their conclusion

People who have reached the age of majority in Russia do not have problems getting married. All they need to do is submit an application and then come to the painting on the appointed day. It’s another matter when people who are not yet 18 years old want or are forced to get married for some reason. But even in this case, if certain conditions are met, they can receive the appropriate stamp in their passport.

Process Features

Relations in the field of marriage are regulated by the Family Code of the Russian Federation. In accordance with Art. 13 establishes the age at which citizens can freely marry. According to the law, this is the achievement of full legal capacity, that is, 18 years.

Of course, this legal relationship has exceptions. The law clearly stipulates that, if there is a valid reason, persons can officially register a marriage before reaching the age of majority. According to legal practice, such situations include:

• Pregnancy or the birth of a baby.
• Serious illness of one of the partners.
• A clear threat to the health or life of one of the newlyweds.
• The groom is called up for military service.
• The partners have been living in a civil marriage for a long time.

All of the above situations must be documented. The fact of their presence is not enough to formalize a marriage between minors. A resolution from the local administration is also required.

Legal consequences of early marriages

After the official creation of a family, minors are considered fully emancipated and acquire full civil capacity (). This means that they cease to be minors, acquiring all the “adult” rights. Now young spouses can:

• manage your own income;
• acquire copyrights and protect them;
• deposit funds into a bank deposit;
• enter into loan agreements (if this is allowed under the bank’s terms and conditions);
• carry out everyday transactions;
• become members of a cooperative;
• create commercial enterprises and register them in your name;
• enter into a marriage contract.

However, along with rights, newlyweds also acquire “adult” responsibilities, in particular, in relation to their own children. They bear property and other responsibility for their actions, but the legal definition does not concern the age of conscription for military service and the onset of criminal liability.

Young people who get married lose preferences that apply to children, for example, protection from guardianship authorities, the right to receive alimony from parents, etc.

Emancipation remains even after the dissolution of an early marriage before the 18th birthday. A boy or girl will be able to regain their “child” status only after the marriage is declared invalid in court.

Legal provisions

The Family Code of the Russian Federation clearly establishes that the age of marriage begins at 18 years. Then citizens can freely consolidate their relationships at the official level. They do not need parental or government consent to do this.

There is also a clarification that the age of marriage can be lowered for minors if there are good reasons. Their list is not established by law, but depends on the degree of seriousness. Examples include pregnancy and illness. In this case, it is possible to reduce the teenage age of marriage:

It should be noted that this issue is regulated by the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Accordingly, the local administration can independently set the age and grounds for persons to get married early.

What the law allows

In a number of regions of the country, early marriages have been legalized:

• from 14 years old - Chechen Republic, Republic of Adygea, Tyumen, Moscow, Tula, Kaluga, Nizhny Novgorod, Vologda, Tambov, Oryol regions, Jewish Autonomous Okrug, Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug;
• from 15 years old - Ryazan, Chelyabinsk, Murmansk regions.

All subjects of the Federation have adopted regulations regulating the provision of services for registering the marriage of minors. They describe the circumstances under which they are allowed to start a family, and establish the procedure and timing for issuing the appropriate permit. In addition, the reasons for refusal to consider submitted documents are stated.

A petition to lower the marriageable age to formalize family relations between minors is submitted by those entering into marriage or by their parents (legal representatives, guardians, trustees). However, in the latter case, it is necessary to provide the consent of the boy and girl to create a family.

If two minor Russians get married, the permit is issued for each individual.

Basic Concepts

This legal relationship is regulated by the Family and Civil Codes of the Russian Federation. For a complete understanding, it is worth clarifying the terminology. The main concepts include:

It is worth mentioning such a legal consequence of early marriage as emancipation. This is the name of the process when a person, having married his partner under 18 years of age and receiving the status of husband or wife, has the same rights and responsibilities as an adult citizen. For example, you can open your own enterprise, as well as dispose of property in any form.

How to prove the invalidity of an early marriage

According to, marriage is recognized as illegitimate in case of violation of the norms prescribed in. Grounds for recognizing the incompetence of a relationship:

• lack of consent to marriage;
• in the regulatory framework of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation there is no norm allowing early marriages;
• lack of permission from municipal authorities or violation of the procedure for obtaining it;
• incapacity of one of the spouses;
• one of the spouses is already married;
• closely related ties between applicants;
• the persons who registered the relationship were previously in an adoptive/adoptive legal relationship;
• one of the spouses, who is a carrier of HIV infection or suffers from sexually transmitted diseases, hid this fact from the partner;
• a fictitious marriage has been registered that is not intended to create a family.

The minor spouse himself, his parents, guardians, representatives of guardianship authorities, prosecutors and other interested parties can file a claim to have an early marriage declared invalid. During the court hearing, it will be clarified whether there really are grounds for making the relevant decision. If one of the above facts is proven, the marriage is dissolved, and all rights and obligations under it are considered void.

If a marriage is declared illegitimate, the injured party has the right to demand compensation for material and moral damage. To do this, you must file a corresponding claim in court. The judge almost always takes the side of the injured party, whose demands are satisfied in full.

Read: You changed your mind about getting a divorce, but the decision has already been made: what to do

During pregnancy

Pregnancy is one of the common and compelling reasons to get married at 17 or even earlier. To register a marriage, you must write an application to the local administration of the municipality or district, indicating the basis for lowering the marriageable age.

Adolescents must provide evidence along with their application. You can confirm your special situation with a certificate from the hospital. If the couple already has a child together, then their birth certificate should be shown.

Is parental consent required?

If marriage is registered between the ages of 16 and 18, then parental approval is not required. However, it is necessary to obtain it from the guardianship authorities.

In a situation where marriage occurs before the age of 16, the rules will vary depending on the region. For example, in order to carry out this process in the Moscow region, it is necessary to obtain the approval of an authorized Government official. The basis for consideration of the issue is the submitted statements from parents or guardians. If the parents disagree, the decision is made by the guardianship authorities.

If there are no good reasons

Federal law does not establish a list of valid reasons when minor citizens can enter into a marriage. The last word remains with the local administration of the city or district. By their decision, the civil registry office can accept an application for a marriage.

It is worth noting that a number of grounds can be listed in the law of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation. Then, when submitting an application for marriage, you should refer to this legal norm.

Important! If one of the minor partners is an orphan or a foreign national, then they should contact the local administration and document their status.

Procedure, step-by-step instructions

Registering a marriage is a significant but rather lengthy process. It includes several stages, the completion of which is mandatory. In addition, early marriage entails legal consequences. Below is a detailed description of each item.

1. Step one. Receiving a positive response to an early union.

The initial stage, the implementation of which is necessary. Approval to lower the marriageable age can be obtained from the administration of the subject: city or district.

Documents are submitted along with the application. This confirms the special position of the newlyweds. Such papers include:

• Passports or birth certificate.
• Medical confirmation of a girl’s pregnancy.
• Upon request, permission from parents or official representatives of young persons in writing.
• A certificate from the place of employment, as well as a reference, if required by the administration staff.
• Certificate of income for the last year.
• Certificate from educational institution.

Important! The application is considered individually. If both partners are minors, then two petitions are required to lower the marriageable age. Accordingly, if only one citizen is under 18 years of age, then the application will be accepted only from him.

Grounds for refusal may include:

• unreadable text;
• non-compliance with the requirements of the regulations;
• the required documents are not attached along with the application;
• other violations of the filing procedure.

The deadlines for consideration of the application are set individually for each region. This is prescribed in local acts of the city administration or in a special law of a subject of the Russian Federation.

Important! If the application is submitted by parents or official representatives (guardians), then the written consent of minor citizens to the marriage union must also be provided.

1. Step two. Submitting an application to the Civil Registry Office.

An application to the Civil Registry Office is submitted in the standard manner. It should be noted that persons have the right to submit documents to any branch of the wedding house, regardless of region and district. The law does not limit the location of a government agency where citizens can sign. Along with the application, basic information about the newlyweds is submitted:

• Passports of the parties (or birth certificates).
• Consent of the local administration to lower the age of marriage.
• Receipt of payment of the state fee (the cost is 200 rubles, no benefits are provided to minors).
• The registry office may require written parental consent.

Next, the newlyweds just have to wait for the actual wedding date. As a rule, this is one month, maximum two. However, the law defines situations when young people can be discharged on the same day or the next. These include:

• bride's pregnancy;
• the couple already has a child together;
• one of the newlyweds is in danger of life or health.

It is important that all documents are up to date!

1. Step three. Conclusion of a marriage union, painting of the newlyweds.

Direct visit to the registry office to sign. After this, the couple officially becomes husband and wife.

Every action has consequences. This also applies to early marriage. Marriage at the age of 16 leads to the emancipation of a citizen. This means that he becomes absolutely capable at an early age.

As a rule, absolute legal capacity begins at the age of 18. But marriage is an exception to the general rules. What does emancipation give:

• Freely dispose of your own property: sell, donate, pledge.
• Open your own private enterprise, for example, register a Limited Liability Company in your name.
• Other rights and obligations that a person acquires upon reaching the age of majority.

It is worth saying that Art. 27 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation establishes situations when a marriage is declared invalid. Then it can be terminated by one of the parties in court. This may happen in the following cases:

1. The marriage was not concluded by mutual voluntary agreement.
2. The procedure for obtaining a marriage license from the local administration was violated.
3. There is no legislation in the region allowing early marriage.
4. One of the spouses is already married.
5. The newlyweds are relatives.
6. One of the partners is declared incompetent by a court decision.
7. One of the newlyweds has a sexually transmitted disease and deliberately hid it from his partner.

Thus, marriage of minors is permitted under the Family Code. You just need to collect the necessary documents and issue a permit.

How is urgent marriage registration carried out?

Permission to carry out an accelerated procedure for registering a marriage union is accepted personally by the head of the registry office after checking all the attached documents. In most cases, the marriage date is set for the next few days (usually within a week), however, in rare cases of force majeure, the union can be registered on the day of contacting the relevant authority.

This opportunity can be implemented in settlements with a small population and, accordingly, a low frequency of applications to the registry office.

If necessary, registry office employees can conduct an away ceremony in a hospital facility, including a maternity hospital (if medical circumstances allow it).

How to use and achieve compensation for employees during the liquidation of an organization is described in detail in our article. What are incentive payments and who is entitled to them? Read more about this in our article.

Are you preparing for retirement? Then this material will be useful to you.

Marriage under an accelerated scheme for military personnel

The maximum reduction in the time frame for registering a new marriage union is expected, in accordance with the provisions of the Family Code, even if the military partner must leave quickly for the place of fulfillment of official obligations.

As a documentary basis for the need to marry early for military personnel, when submitting an application to the registry office, a military ID of one of the future spouses, as well as a notice of the need to arrive at the place of military service, can be presented.

Written documents signed by authorized commanders of the military unit are accepted for consideration.

Samples of required documents

An important stage in registering a marriage is documents. These include statements and certificates that confirm a certain status. Below are examples of the required papers:

• Sample application to the local administration to lower the age of marriage:

• Sample application for registration of a marriage union to get married at 16 years old:

• Filled-in form:

Important! You can fill out the application at home, the main thing is to sign. This will greatly reduce the time when submitting documents to the administration or the registry office.

Thus, the law allows persons under 18 years of age to register relationships. To do this, you just need to obtain permission from the city or district administration to marry minors.

a brief description of

Getting married is a very serious and responsible matter. After all, in addition to mutual feelings, young people must remember that creating a social unit implies the birth of children, their upbringing and provision. Therefore, many teenagers are simply not ready to solve such difficult life problems.

Only at the age of 18, young people are drafted into the army, girls receive an education, continue to study further in order to get on their feet in the future and find a good job. Even at this age, young people are in no hurry to get married if they have very strong feelings. In addition, teenagers often get married because their partner is pregnant. In most cases, such marriages soon break up.

Therefore, citizens interested in the question of whether it is possible to get married in Russia at the age of 16 should know that this is possible, but only if there are serious reasons. To enter into such a marriage, you will need to obtain consent from local authorities.