Religious marriage and de facto family union in the Civil Code: what's wrong?

Draft Book 7 «Family Law» simultaneously provides for the introduction of a mechanism for performing religious marriage ceremonies with subsequent state registration and the introduction of the concept of «de facto family union» with the extension of certain legal consequences inherent in registered marriage to it.

Both proposed regulatory models raised concerns in two Committees of the UNBA: on civil law and procedure and on family law, which commented on legislative initiatives to recodify the Civil Code in this area.

Advocates pointed out that the novelty regarding religious marriage ceremonies needs to be refined from the perspective of legal certainty and constitutional guarantees. The comments point out that the proposed model provides for the entry of a marriage registration record into the State register of civil status acts on the basis of a notification from a religious organization, with the state registration authority verifying compliance with the requirements for marriage.

At the same time, in the case of a religious marriage ceremony, the conditions for its conclusion are not actually verified at the stage of the ceremony itself, as the Committees are convinced. This could create additional difficulties in law enforcement. The proposed structure may also appear to grant the church powers of authority, which requires careful consideration in light of constitutional provisions on the secular nature of the state. In addition, the practical aspects of dissolving such marriages may also give rise to problems of certainty.

On the other hand, the proposal to simultaneously introduce the concept of a «de facto family union» as two persons of the opposite sex living together as a family without registering their marriage (provided that they are not in another marriage) is not entirely successful. The draft proposes to extend, in particular, the provisions on the legal regime of marital property and maintenance to such relationships.

The UNBA Committees did not support this approach, pointing out that under such provisions, the marriage union is effectively nullified, and the guarantees that the state provides to spouses cannot unconditionally apply to relationships chosen without marriage registration.

The application of the regime of joint shared property to de facto unions is also inappropriate and will only create grounds for complex legal disputes. An alternative direction could be the development of contractual regulation: if engaged couples and spouses can enter into a marriage contract, then persons who choose to live together without registering their marriage should also have the option of entering into a corresponding contract that would define the basic rights and obligations of the partners and reduce the need for judicial establishment of the facts of cohabitation.

The UNBA also commented on a number of other provisions of the draft Book, in particular regarding the lowering of the marriage age, the participation of guardianship and custody authorities in cases concerning the protection of children's rights, the regulation of engagements, rules on the origin of children and the introduction of the category of «parental responsibility», as well as specific rules on marital property, «family housing», and maintenance (alimony obligations, confirmation of income abroad).

In general, back in 2021, the UNBA expressed its position on the Concept of updating the Civil Code, in particular regarding the advisability of including Book 7 «Family Law» in its structure. At that time, the importance of the Family Code as a separate regulatory act governing family legal relations and aimed at strengthening the family as a basic social institution was emphasized.

The solution seems to be the modernization of family legislation in parallel with the recodification of the Civil Code, while preserving the independent status of the Family Code as an act that has proven effective in the field of legal regulation of family relations.

The full comments and proposals of the UNBA on the draft can be viewed at this link.