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Published: 05/09/2017
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It is not always clear what it is - a fictitious marriage from a legal point of view. This form of relationship consists of formalizing a marriage without the goal of creating a full-fledged social unit.
Such families are created for selfish interests. According to the law, such actions entail liability. The main and main consequence of such relations is the recognition of the transaction as invalid.
As a result, the rights and obligations of pseudo-spouses will be canceled from the moment the relationship is registered.
- Definition and characteristics
- Grounds for fictitious relationships
- Legislative acts on fictitious marriage
- Possible consequences
- Conclusion
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What is a fictitious marriage?
In accordance with Art. 27 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation, a fictitious marriage is understood as a union of two people, legalized on paper, which was concluded for selfish purposes. Selfish goals can be pursued by either one of the spouses or both. A fictitious marriage is registered in the registry office, but there are no family relationships, for example, the absence and raising of joint children, they do not engage in a common household, do not live together, etc.
Important! A fictitious relationship is the reason why a marriage is declared invalid.
Evidence of fictitiousness
Proving fictitiousness is not always easy, especially if it is not one of the partners who wants to confirm the invalidity, but a third party. Because you will need to know for sure that people do not lead a life together, do not fulfill the rights and obligations prescribed in the Family Code. It is also necessary to have evidence of this, because words alone will not be enough.
Important! To confirm that the union is invalid, you can contact neighbors and close relatives. Perhaps from their words it will be possible to find out how a particular family lives.
If a husband or wife wants to prove that their union is not real, then the task will be easier. This can be confirmed either through witness testimony or through documentary evidence. For example, you can use checks to show that your partner does not contribute materially to the family. After all, the spouse is obliged to make his financial contribution. It also happens that the “spouse” does not even come home or has another partner.
If the relationship is recognized as false, then the union will be dissolved. In this case, the information that the marriage was registered will simply be deleted. However, there will be consequences that are worth being aware of.
Why is a fictitious marriage necessary?
1. Simplify obtaining citizenship
Foreigners can obtain citizenship of the Russian Federation according to a simplified procedure. To do this, you must be married to a citizen of the Russian Federation for at least 3 years. But other migration issues are also resolved by a stamp in the passport. For example, temporary residence permits are given according to special quotas. It allows a foreigner to stay and work in the Russian Federation without obtaining migration patents. Spouses of citizens of the Russian Federation have the right to receive a document outside the quotas.
The stamp in the passport itself does not change anything. You will need to run around to complete the paperwork. But it significantly shortens the route of this running.
2. Claim benefits and discounts
Some programs are designed for families only. For example, Sberbank gives a 0.5% discount on mortgages if the loan is taken by a single parent under 35 years old or a married young couple, even childless, in which at least one spouse is not yet 35 years old.
3. Get your dream job
Sometimes marital status matters: 22% of employers hire men who are married with children. Married women are chosen in every fifth company.
4. Hide orientation
This point is not related to legislation, but is no less important. A fictitious marriage helps to hide homosexual orientation. In the Russian Federation it is a serious obstacle in many areas. For example, you may not get a job simply because you are well-groomed and have feminine manners. The presence of a stamp in a passport removes suspicion from a person.
5. Spend money
The formal reason for a fictitious marriage can be any of the above. But at the same time, one of the spouses is looking for additional benefits. For example, a man proposes a fictitious marriage for the sake of a good, but fictitious position, precisely when a woman is buying an apartment. The lady doesn’t see the catch and agrees for a small reward. But if the deal goes through after the wedding, the husband will claim half of the property.
In some cases, the marriage is fictitious only for one of the spouses - the one who benefits from it. The second one at this time believes that everything is for real, believes in reciprocal feelings.
Grounds for fictitious relationships
Having figured out what a fictitious marriage is, a person will quite rightly be interested in the reasons for the emergence of such relationships. Fictitious registration is carried out for selfish and other reasons. The reasons for the emergence of such relationships can be quite diverse. The most common of them are:
- attempts to get rid of parental control of young people. Sometimes such relationships develop into a full-fledged family, the grounds for fictitiousness disappear by themselves;
- registration for obtaining citizenship and residence permits;
- fictitious marriages are also concluded in order to hide unconventional inclinations. This helps maintain a good reputation;
- the opportunity to acquire material benefits. For example, a grandmother’s will states that in order to receive a substantial inheritance, her grandson must marry. He couldn’t come up with anything better than to fictitiously create a social unit;
- conclusion of official relations for obtaining registration;
- acquiring the opportunity to expand living space.
More common reasons are listed here.
In fact, there are many reasons for the appearance of such relationships, but the result remains the same. People create fictitious social units for a specific purpose. As a result, after some time, divorce occurs.
It rarely happens that families remain in existence and acquire a normal appearance, and children are born together.
Why is a fictitious marriage dangerous?
A stamp in your passport gives you some rights. An unscrupulous spouse can use them for his own benefit, and the other party will suffer. The deceiver may claim:
1. Receiving an inheritance
The spouse is the heir. This means that he can lay claim to part of the property to which he has nothing to do.
If something happens to you, your family may be left with nothing.
2. Division of property
According to the law, if there is no marriage contract, the property acquired during the marriage is divided in half. So, when a fictitious union is dissolved, the richer spouse risks becoming poorer.
3. Alimony
The law obliges to support a needy ex-spouse if he:
- Pre-retirement. For women this is from 55 years old, for men - from 60.
- Retired within 5 years after the divorce if the union was long. The court will decide whether you were together enough for child support.
- Became disabled during the marriage or within a year after its dissolution.
It is possible that you will need to support a person who is practically a stranger to you.
The procedure for recognizing a marriage as invalid
What to do if a person suspects his spouse of entering into a fictitious marriage with him? The only way out is to go to court. The plaintiff must not only convince the court of the defendant’s guilt, but also provide evidence of his non-involvement in concluding a fictitious alliance.
For this you need to be well prepared. The procedure looks like this:
First, it is worth determining whether the partner is really trying to extract any benefit from the marriage.
Secondly, you will need to collect papers confirming the spouse’s unreliability, as well as attract witnesses to the case.
Thirdly, you need to create a statement of claim. The defendant (partner), the registry office that registered the union, and the plaintiff himself will participate in the process.
After filing the application, the plaintiff will need to prepare all the attachments that will be considered by the court.
The last stage is to take part in the process. The period for consideration of designated cases is limited to 2 months. In this case, one month is given to appeal. If the defendant was unable to substantiate his position within the allotted time, then after 30 days the decision comes into force.
Important! Currently, legislators are planning to add fictitious marriage to the list of acts that constitute a crime. Persons who violate the norms of family law face a considerable fine in this regard.
How to recognize a marriage as fictitious
If the fictitious spouse is adequate and does not lay claim to your property, it is quite easy to get a divorce. Otherwise, you will need to go to court.
A spouse who did not know about the fraud has the right to file a claim for recognition of the marriage as invalid. But you will need comprehensive evidence that there was no family. For example, a separate budget alone is not a sufficient basis. Also tell us about the benefits that your spouse received from the fictitious stamp in the passport.
You can declare the marriage invalid for another formal reason, if there is one. In this case, you will also be able to save your property from division.
The reasons are as follows:
- You gave your consent to the marriage at the registry office not of your own free will - due to coercion, deception, or a state in which you could not adequately assess the situation.
- You have not reached the age of marriage - 18 years.
- At the time of marriage, your spouse was already in another marriage.
- The spouse is a close relative.
- The spouse was declared incompetent by the court due to a mental disorder.
- The husband hid the presence of a sexually transmitted disease or HIV infection.
Possible consequences
Making a fictitious registration is a violation of the law. Accordingly, such relations may be invalidated. This procedure is carried out only through the court.
To do this, the interested person must file a corresponding statement of claim. Until the judge makes a final decision, the marriage is considered valid. If the fact of fictitiousness is confirmed, the marriage is completely annulled by the registration authority with all the ensuing consequences.
Important ! The law does not establish a statute of limitations for cases regarding the fictitiousness of relationships. Therefore, the interested party has the right to appeal to a higher authority at any time. But, if the relationship has already been terminated, it will no longer be possible to recognize it as invalid.
Every person should understand that a fictitious marriage is illegal. And all illegal actions are punishable by law. The main consequence of entering into such a relationship is the recognition of the marriage as fictitious.
Sometimes the fictitiousness comes from only one side. Then the second spouse has the right to file a claim for compensation for harm and moral damage.
When a marriage is annulled, all rights and obligations between the spouses are eliminated.
Since the conclusion of this type of marriage relationship does not pose a threat to others, the law does not provide for criminal liability for such actions.
Such a violation results in criminal liability only in the following cases, when the marriage registration procedure took place in the presence of criminal acts, including terrorist acts.
The violator was actually involved, and also registered and became a citizen of the country. As a result, these actions simplified the opportunity to commit a crime.
Lack of knowledge about the commission of a crime is not taken into account by the judge; the second spouse is automatically considered an accomplice to the crime.
Fictitious relationships are formalized with the task of carrying out corruption schemes, various types of fraud, as well as illegal enrichment. Then persons who received property or other funds and benefits are at risk.
Quite often, marriage relationships are formalized by scammers with the goal of further dividing property. Since according to the law, after a divorce, only jointly acquired property is divided, relationship scammers insist on the size of the property or its resale.
As a result of such actions, during a divorce, the fraudster gets a chance to take half of the property.
Children born in such a marriage should not suffer. They retain all relevant rights, even when the invalidity of the marriage is confirmed by the court.
But this happens very rarely. Quite often, the very fact of the birth of a child is already considered the basis for recognizing a marriage as valid, in accordance with paragraph 3 of Article No. 29 of the Family Code.
Even the presence of an terminated pregnancy in such a relationship can have a huge impact on the judge's decision.
If an invalid marriage is concluded by a foreign citizen, he is deported with the possibility of temporary restrictions on leaving. But first, of course, this fact must be approved by the court.
The government of the country is trying in every possible way to prevent the emergence of such relationships; it is always against fictitious marriages. The task of the authorities is to increase the demography of the country; accordingly, they exercise control over the creation of social units.
Foreign experience
A fictitious marriage in Russia is usually concluded to obtain Russian citizenship. However, similar motives also drive foreign couples. The experience of foreign states on the issue of identifying and suppressing the registration of mutually beneficial alliances is varied. However, strict punishment for such an act has its pros and cons.
The strictest measures against parties who have formed fictitious relationships are provided in Germany. So, if a foreigner acquired citizenship of this state by deceiving a German citizen, then he can be given 3 years in prison.
Searches and testing for knowledge of the habits of your partner are ways to prove selfish intentions.
As a result of revealing facts that the relationship is fictitious, the person is deprived of liberty for a long period of time, and after serving it, he is deported outside the country. In this case, the person is deprived of the right to re-entry for life.
On the territory of Belarus, in turn, the peculiarity of fictitious marriages lies in the reasons for their registration. This is what public sector workers or military personnel do in order not to leave when transferred to another city.
In the United States, judicial precedents are of great importance. At one of the trials, it was decided to sentence the partners who had entered into a mutually beneficial relationship to five years in prison with the payment of a large fine.
