The family is a unit of society, the creation of which must be approached with utmost responsibility. Unfortunately, in the modern world it is becoming extremely unpopular to formalize your relations officially and bear responsibility for your partner. Therefore, more and more young people prefer actual marriage, allowing at least somehow to explain their relationship to curious friends. But in fact, such a frivolous approach to such serious things as marriage, carries a lot of pitfalls and problems that self-confident cohabitants do not even think about at the beginning of the relationship.
What is marriage?
Recently, Russian sociologists conducted a rather interesting experiment - they interviewed several thousand residents on the streets of the city, asking them a question about what marriage is. Surprisingly, only twenty percent of the respondents were able to accurately characterize such an understandable term, which indicates a decrease in interest in the institution of marriage in general. In addition, almost one in five respondents claimed that he did not want to bind themselves by formalizing relations and taking on the problems of a partner. But this is precisely what the concept of “marriage” implies, characterized as an officially legally formed marriage.
Other definitions in dictionaries and directories simply do not exist. So where did so many types of marriage come from in modern society? Let's try to understand this difficult question.
Types of Marriages
Once upon a time, people did not have to think about how to formalize their relationship. In the Ancient World, the Middle Ages and until the twentieth century, two people could only be in officially registered relations, according to the laws established in the country. But the twentieth century brought serious changes to the worldview of people, which, of course, affected the attitude towards love and marital union. Now in society, several types of marriage are known:
- actual marriage;
- civil marriage;
- fictitious marriage;
- virtual;
- guest;
- church.
It is worth noting that not all types of marriage are recognized legally. For example, in our country, a virtual marriage, when partners are registered as spouses on a special site, look only as a whim and pampering. But a guest marriage, in which spouses who have registered their relationship under the laws of the country, prefer to live separately and meet by prior arrangement, will be recognized in any court. Fictitious marriage created for profit is a criminal offense. Church marriage ties, of course, do not exist in legal practice as a form of matrimony. But this does not prevent the newlyweds from consolidating their wedding relations in the registry office. This serious approach is strongly approved by the clergy and is considered by society as a manifestation of the love and responsibility of young people to each other. But the terms "actual marriage" and "civil marriage" often cause confusion and even appear to be many synonyms. However, it is not.
Civil marriage: wording and history
Are the concepts of “actual marriage” and “civil” identical? Not at all. Very often, citizens' ignorance of legal issues leads to great difficulties, because civil marriage is a relationship that is framed in accordance with the law in public authorities. Moreover, the church does not take any part in this. That is, all marriages concluded in the registry office are considered civil.Where did this wording come from?
It's simple - in pre-revolutionary Russia, all marriages could be registered only by the church, but the overthrow of the tsarist regime brought changes in this area of human life. Now the communists did not have the right to believe in God and turn to clergy, so new governing bodies were invented that could register marital relations between citizens of the country. As a result, civil marriage was replaced by church marriage, which was gradually completely supplanted from the life of society until the nineties of the last century.
Actual marriage: definition
An actual marriage, or cohabitation, is a marital relationship between two people who are not legally registered. Legally, this form of cohabitation is not recognized, it is not in the legislation on family and marriage, therefore, partners do not bear any material, moral or other obligations to each other. In the event of a separation, each of the partners has property recorded on it, and things acquired jointly cannot become the subject of legal proceedings.
The history of actual marriage in Russia
Now at the legislative level in the Russian Federation, such a thing as “actual marriage” does not exist, but a little less than a hundred years ago it was introduced into the Code of laws on marriage and the family. Since 1926, several factors have been sufficient to determine matrimony:
- general household management;
- the presence of intimate relationships;
- confirmation of matrimony to third parties;
- cohabitation for a period of one month.
In 1944, the actual marriage lost its legal force, and all couples living together were invited to formally formalize their relationship. From this moment, only one type of marriage is legally recognized - civil, registered according to all established rules in the registry office of any city. As confirmation of this action, the spouses are issued a certificate of marriage, which has legal force.
Advantages of cohabitation: an opinion from the side
Examples of actual marriage are ubiquitous; sociologists claim that already every third Russian was or is in such a relationship. What makes this form of marital union so attractive?
Psychologists argue that cohabitation is usually chosen by young people who are not yet ready to bind themselves by official marriage, or middle-aged citizens (over thirty-five years old) who have already been in such relationships. After all, only every third couple plans to legitimize their relationship. Let's look at the advantages of an actual marriage:
- it allows you to get used to each other, test feelings and compatibility;
- such a marriage gives a feeling of freedom, it is especially pleasing to men;
- both partners feel the need to constantly maintain interest in each other;
- relations in the actual marriage, according to psychologists, are brighter and more interesting than in an official union;
- partners feel free from communication with relatives of their half, which can significantly spoil the relationship;
- each of the "spouses" is responsible for himself and manages his money.
Of course, most people believe that the freedom that an actual marriage gives is worth some problems if situations arise that are regulated only by the legislation of the Russian Federation. But in fact, the difficulties can be very significant.
Cons of living together without formalizing a relationship under the law
Usually people understand their mistakes only when they get into difficult situations. Especially often, such problems arise when couples who have lived together for ten, or even fifteen years, break up. And here a lot of moral and legal subtleties arise, which, as it turns out, does not take into account cohabitation:
- women in actual marriage always position themselves as married, but men consider themselves free, which causes a lot of quarrels and insults;
- in the event of the death of one of the partners, the second cannot claim the inheritance;
- in the event of disability of the "spouse", he cannot claim alimony from a partner;
- the property is not subject to division - it goes to the one who acquired it and can confirm it;
- the income of each partner is his property.
Particularly worth considering is the birth of children in unregistered unions. What does the law say about them and their rights?
Actual marriage: children
Most of the problems in women who are not in an official relationship arise when a baby is born. A child born in an actual marriage cannot:
- without adoption to receive the name of the father;
- without a DNA test, in the event of a breakdown in relations between partners, be recognized as your own father;
- without the procedure for establishing paternity, apply for material support (alimony) from your father.
In addition, the father may decide not to do tests and not recognize his baby. A mother who is not legally registered with him has no right to insist and demand child support in the event of a break. Given how popular actual marriages are now, you can easily predict what problems await today's happy “spouses” in the future.
The actual marriage in the legal practice of modern Russia
Of course, the term "actual marriage" in legal practice does not have any force. But nevertheless, sometimes in court proceedings such wording as “definition of the actual marriage” slips. It is used quite rarely and mainly so that the court understands what kind of relationship binds the two people involved in the trial.
This definition does not bear any legal rights and obligations, but it helps to understand some points of the claim.
The introduction of the concept of "actual marriage"
For several years now, the media has been circulating that it is planned to amend the legislation of the Russian Federation, which should equalize civil and factual marriage, giving them equal legal force. These rumors have become so widespread that sometimes they speak of this fact as already accomplished. But in fact, this bill has not even been submitted for consideration, and, as many legal figures believe, this is extremely correct. Indeed, otherwise, the country will have to almost completely change the Family Code. And this, in turn, will cause confusion and lead to the emergence of new lawsuits and the creation of precedents in legal practice.
Actual divorce: what is it?
When faced with a divorce lawsuit, some people have some difficulties with legal terms. After all, if we clarified the concept of actual marriage, then the actual termination of the union raises a lot of questions.
However, in fact, everything is extremely simple. For example, there are quite common cases when spouses move to different apartments, do not have a common household and stop all relations, but they file for a divorce after a month, or even a year. In this case, the court must establish when the actual termination of the marriage occurred. That is, the time from which the spouses ceased to be close to each other, leading a life that meets the definition of marriage in law.
Sometimes this established fact affects the decision of the judge, and the procedure for divorce is faster.
Of course, it’s up to you to choose whether to register a relationship with the registry office or to stay on cohabitation. But still, if you really met your man, then you should become each other husband and wife. After all, the stamp in the passport is just the beginning of a life together, which can be made happy and long only by joint efforts.