Marriage relations in the Republic of Belarus can be terminated either upon dissolution of the marriage, or upon recognition of the marriage as invalid.
According to the Code of Marriage and Family of the Republic of Belarus, marriage is a voluntary union of a man and a woman, which is aimed at creating a family and gives rise to mutual rights and obligations for the parties.
The conclusion of a marriage is conditioned by two factors – the achievement of marriageable age and the mutual consent of the persons entering into marriage.
Grounds for declaring a marriage invalid
From this follow the grounds on which a marriage can be declared invalid:
– the lack of mutual consent of persons, when entering into marriage;
– their failure to reach marriageable age;
– incapacity of persons who have entered into marriage;
– family ties in the direct uplink and downlink;
– marriage between full and half brothers and sisters, between adoptive parents / adoptive parents and adopted children;
– finding persons who have married in another marriage, registered in the prescribed manner;
– concealment by the person entering into marriage of the circumstances preventing its conclusion.
Fictitious marriage in Belarus
Also, the basis for declaring a marriage invalid is its registration without the intention to create a family (fictitious marriage). Only such a marriage should be considered fictitious if both parties did not intend to create a family upon registration. In the absence of such an intention on the part of one of the parties, the marriage may be declared invalid as contracted under the influence of deception, that is, without the mutual consent necessary for the conclusion of the marriage.
Fictitious marriage of a foreigner and a Belarusian in the Republic of Belarus
The conclusion of a fictitious marriage by a foreigner with a citizen of the Republic of Belarus or a foreigner permanently residing in the Republic of Belarus solely for the purpose of obtaining a permit for temporary or permanent residence in the Republic of Belarus is evidenced by:
– a message from the body registering acts of civil status of the Republic of Belarus or a foreign state that one or both spouses have one more registered marriage;
– notification of the state body of a foreign state about the presence of one or both spouses of an unregistered marriage, recognized by this foreign state and concluded in accordance with the customs and traditions of this foreign state;
– the decision of the court of the Republic of Belarus on recognizing as fictitious (invalid) a previously concluded fictitious marriage of one or both spouses;
– the decision of a judicial or other law enforcement body of a foreign state to bring one or both spouses to justice in the territory of this state in connection with a previously concluded fictitious marriage;
– written explanations of relatives, friends, neighbors, acquaintances or work colleagues of one or both spouses;
– reports of employees of the internal affairs bodies on the results of the inspection of a foreigner about his actual cohabitation with his spouse and running a joint household;
– questionnaires of spouses with the results of their survey or with a mark on the refusal of the spouses to conduct the survey;
– communication by spouses of not uniform information regarding personal and other data of each other, close relatives of each other, the circumstances of their acquaintance and family life;
– non-living of spouses after marriage together and ignorance of a joint household, despite the presence of sufficient living conditions;
– the state of one of the spouses in a de facto marriage relationship with another person and running a joint household with him;
– information or information that the spouses had never met before filing an application for registration of marriage with the civil status registration authority, or the spouses’ meetings were of an episodic nature and were not associated with relationships aimed at creating a family;
– information or information that the spouses do not speak a language that they both understand; non-possession of relatives, friends, neighbors, acquaintances or work colleagues of one or both spouses of information about their marriage;
-receipt by one of the spouses of benefits of a property or other nature for the conclusion of a marriage with a foreigner;
– the spouses do not have joint children, but the presence of children born during marriage, the parent of which is not one of the spouses;
– a significant difference in the age of the spouses;
– the conclusion of one of the spouses or both spouses in the past marriages without the intention to start a family;
– refusal of one of the spouses or both spouses to conduct the survey.
Consequences of invalidating a marriage
The legal consequences of invalidating a marriage concluded by a foreigner with a citizen of the Republic of Belarus or a foreigner permanently residing in the Republic of Belarus, and which served as the basis for issuing a permanent residence permit in the territory of the Republic of Belarus, is the cancellation of such a permit.
A marriage cannot be recognized as fictitious if the persons who registered this marriage actually started a family prior to the consideration of the case by the court.
Age at which you can marry
It is worth dwelling in more detail on such a condition of marriage as age.
The age at which persons can marry is established by law at eighteen years.
An exception is pregnancy, childbirth, and the acquisition of full legal capacity by a minor before reaching the age of majority. In the event of the above cases, the civil registration authority can reduce the age of marriage to persons entering into marriage, but by no more than three years.
The lowering of the marriageable age is made at the request of the persons entering into marriage. At the same time, the consent of parents, guardians of minors for marriage is not required.
The legal capacity acquired as a result of marriage is retained in full even in the event of divorce, however, if the marriage is declared invalid, the court may decide that the minor spouse loses full legal capacity from the moment determined by the court.
The procedure for declaring a marriage invalid
The invalidation of a marriage is carried out in the course of action proceedings. The claim is filed at the place of residence of the defendant.
If necessary, the court has the right to consider in one proceeding the claims on divorce and on declaring the marriage invalid.
When accepting a statement of claim on declaring a marriage invalid, the court finds out whether the plaintiff belongs to the category of persons who have the right to bring claims for declaring the marriage invalid.
Thus, a claim for declaring a marriage invalid has the right to present: one of the spouses; a person whose rights have been violated by the conclusion of this marriage; guardianship and guardianship authorities; prosecutor. Also, a lawsuit for recognizing a marriage as invalid has the right to be filed by the internal affairs bodies in the event that a marriage is concluded by a foreign citizen or stateless person with a citizen of the Republic of Belarus (or a foreign citizen or stateless person permanently residing in the Republic of Belarus) solely for the purpose of obtaining a temporary residence permit in the Republic of Belarus.
If the applicant does not belong to the aforementioned persons, the judge refuses to initiate proceedings.
A claim for recognizing a marriage entered into with a minor as invalid may be brought by the minor spouse, the guardianship and guardianship authorities, as well as the prosecutor.
If by the time the case is resolved, the minor spouse has reached the age of majority, then the marriage can be declared invalid only at his request.
An obstacle to initiating proceedings on declaring a marriage invalid is the presence of a court decision on divorce that has entered into legal force.
When considering the issue of recognizing a marriage as invalid, the court may establish that the circumstances that hindered the conclusion of the marriage have disappeared. In this case, the court has the right, on its own initiative, to refuse to satisfy the claim and recognize the marriage as valid from the moment. When these circumstances have disappeared.
If the court makes a positive decision on the recognition of the marriage as invalid, then such a marriage is recognized as invalid from the moment of its conclusion.
The invalidation of a marriage does not affect the rights of children born in such a marriage, and does not exclude the possibility of concluding an Agreement on Children.
To property acquired jointly by persons who were married, recognized as invalid, the rule of division of common shared ownership is applied, that is, the court establishes the shares of both persons in the right to common property.
Persons who were in a marriage recognized as invalid do not have any rights and obligations of spouses, except for cases when one of the spouses concealed from the other that they are married. If a marriage is recognized as invalid, the court has the right to recover from such a spouse funds for the maintenance of a person who was in an invalid marriage with him, and also has the right to divide the property acquired by these persons jointly from the moment of marriage until the moment the marriage is declared invalid according to the rules for the division of property upon dissolution of marriage.
A spouse who did not know about the presence of obstacles to the conclusion of marriage has the right to keep the surname chosen by him when registering the marriage.
When considering a case on recognizing a marriage as invalid as concluded with a person recognized as incapable, a guardianship and guardianship body must be involved in the case.
Upon the entry into force of the court decision on declaring the marriage invalid, a copy of this decision within ten days is sent by the court to the civil status registry at the place of registration of the marriage.
Marriage marks entered by the registry office in the identity documents of the persons who entered into the marriage are canceled.
Our attorneys have extensive experience in representing our clients in invalidation of marriage. Our marriage lawyers are ready to provide you with the following legal assistance on invalidation of marriage:
– oral and written advice on the invalidation of marriage;
– representation and protection of interests in courts on the recognition of marriage as invalid;
– consultations and representation of interests on the recognition of a marriage as invalid, concluded with a foreign citizen.
If you have any questions related to the invalidation of a marriage, and you need help or advice from a lawyer, please contact our lawyers by e-mail: info@familylawyer.by or by phone: +375293664477.
