The family as a social unit is an incredibly important element in any country in the world. In the Russian Federation, the grounds for the emergence and termination of family legal relations are regulated by law - in accordance with the Family Code. This article will tell you all about the elements and signs of family law.
Signs of family relationships
The grounds for the emergence of family-type relationships must be characterized, starting with signs. Specialists in the field of jurisprudence argue that such legal relations have all the same attributes as other branches of law. It should be called here:
- individualization, that is, the emergence of relations purely between specific participants;
- the presence of a social nature - largely due to social significance;
- strong-willed character;
- state coercion;
- clear certainty of legal duties and powers of subjects of relations, etc.
All the signs presented add up a clear definition of family relationships. So, we are talking about personal and volitional relations of a property or non-property nature, defined by Russian family law and family law.
The concept of legal fact
What is the specific basis for the emergence of family relationships? Specialists talk about such a thing as a legal fact. In the case of family law, we are talking about a combination of such facts.
Legal fact refers to a specific life circumstance. Family norms associate with this circumstance the onset of future legal consequences. This fact can lead to the formation or liquidation of legal capacity or legal capacity of the family type. That is why it cannot be identical to the grounds for the emergence, liquidation or termination of specific legal relations. It is also worth noting that one fact of a legal nature may entail another. So, birth entails a kindred state, death - the termination of marriage, etc. I must say that it is a legal fact that is both a concept and an element of the basis for the emergence of family relationships.
On the legal consequences of a legal fact
All facts of a legal nature, including in the field of family law, can be classified into three main groups. In the first case, we are talking about legal consequences. Five types of legal fact stand out here:
- law-making - entailing the emergence of duties and powers;
- law-changing (example - a change in a marriage contract with a subsequent change in the rights and obligations of spouses);
- terminating (for example, termination of parental relations when the child reaches the age of majority);
- preventive (example - a seriously ill person who is unable to adopt a child);
- legal restorations (the most common example is the restoration of once lost parental rights).
Thus, the legal consequence is the first and main criterion that makes up the concept and grounds for the emergence of family relationships.
About the concept of addiction
The second criterion for the establishment of family relationships is related to the concept of dependence. This is about the will of the participants in the relationship, which is directly related to the onset of a legal fact. First, it is worth highlighting the concept of action - legitimate or unlawful. Its offensive depends on the will of the subjects of law.If we are talking about legitimate actions, then they can be divided into actions and acts. Acts are aimed directly at achieving some kind of legal consequences, and acts, on the contrary, are not directed. It is a family legal act that is a combination of civil actions that are aimed at the formation, modification or liquidation of legal relations. It is also worth noting that the most important reason for the emergence of family relationships is a court decision.
On the validity of a legal fact
The third criterion of a fact of a legal nature is the duration of the existence of a specific legal relationship. So, legal facts can be short and long. Short-term facts may be circumstances related to certain legal consequences of family law. 
They have, as you might guess, a rather short character. This includes death, childbirth, registration of a document on the child’s place of residence, etc. There are also long-term facts - the so-called conditions. They operate for a very long time, periodically forming some legal consequences. This includes marriage, kinship, adoption and much more.
Thus, it is a legal fact, expressed in three criteria, that is the basis for the emergence of a family legal relationship.
Family Relationship Features
Family legal relations have both a number of signs and a number of features. What exactly is worth highlighting here? Specialists indicate features of the following nature:
- the legal relationship in question is of a continuing nature and connects close friends;
- the subjects of such legal relations can only be citizens, namely spouses, adoptive parents, parents, children, grandchildren, brothers or sisters, etc .;
- all participants in legal relations are strictly individualized in nature;
- family-type legal relations are more personal than property;
- family relationships are based on a personal, trusting nature.
How are personal family relationships different from property? In the first case we are talking about marriage, divorce, adoption, death, birth, etc. In the case of property family relations, it is worth mentioning maintenance obligations, spouses sharing property, etc. Moreover, both in the first and in the second case, the grounds for the emergence, change and termination of family legal relations will be the same - in the form of special criteria for legal facts.
About subjects of family legal relations
Like any other legal branch, family law has a complex and multifaceted structure. At the same time, the main elements here are subjects, objects and content. For starters, it's worth talking about the subjects.
Spouses - real or former, parents, guardians, children or grandchildren, as well as many other representatives of family ties are subjects of family relations. Moreover, it is the family that acts here as the main and independent subject. Many lawyers characterize a family as a social phenomenon, a small group of people united by kinship or other similar ties. The family consists of family members - persons united by certain duties and powers.
About objects and content of family relations
Only two concepts - action and property - are the main objects of family relations. Moreover, it is the action that is the most common object in this area. What is meant by action? Specialists talk about some result of conscious activity. This, for example, providing a name to a born child, spouses choosing a surname, etc.Property is a certain set of material rights of family members to own, dispose, or use jointly acquired property.
Content as a legal element is also the basis for the emergence of family and civil relations. Some subjective powers and duties of specific subjects make up the content as an element of family legal relations. The concepts of legal capacity and legal capacity are also highlighted here. In the first case, it is about the ability to have rights, and in the second, about the ability to acquire and exercise certain types of rights.
About types of family relationships
As already mentioned, family relationships are incredibly vast and diverse. That is why there are a number of classifications that make it possible to break down family-type relationships into several basic types. First of all, the legal relationship under consideration can be property and non-property (personal), if it comes to content. By specificity, family relations are divided into parental and marital. If we are talking about the subject composition, then it is worth dividing the relationship into simple and complex - depending on the number of members of the relationship (more than three people form a complex relationship).
Relations can be one-sided and bilateral, if we pay attention to the distribution of specific duties and rights. Depending on the individualization, family-type legal relations are absolute (only one side is defined) and relative (all members are defined). By the way, in Russia, family law does not single out absolute legal relations.
It is worth mentioning another classification according to which family relations are divided according to the presence of public interest:
- regulated imperatively (strictly according to hierarchy, for example, when it comes to adoption);
- with or without public interest (child support) - on a voluntary, lawful basis.
All the classifications presented were created by lawyers in strict accordance with legal facts as the basis for the emergence of family legal relations.
About the Family Code
The main legal source regulating family legal relations in the territory of the Russian Federation is, of course, the Constitution. The second most important document can be called the Russian Family Code. What provisions are regulated by this normative act? According to article 1, it is worth mentioning the processes for the implementation of motherhood, fatherhood, childhood, etc.
The presented law forms, establishes and protects the processes of marriage or termination of marriage, property or personal family relations, as well as guardianship, trusteeship, parental responsibilities and much more.