Marriage contract

You have three apartments and a car, and is your significant other one of those people who are said to be “head like a falcon”? Or, perhaps, on the contrary, you have recently arrived in a big city and are now going to enter the family of owners of factories and steamships? One of the most difficult questions when entering into a marriage is what is now considered one’s own, and what is common with a loved one. A prenuptial agreement will help to avoid embarrassing moments and protect honestly earned property. 

The essence of marriage

“A marriage contract or a contract, as it is popularly called, is a deal concluded between spouses to regulate property issues,” says lawyer Ivan Volkov. – Simply put, this is a document that clearly states what property the husband and wife will own during marriage, and what property in the event of a divorce. The marriage contract is regulated by Chapter No. 8 of the Family Code of the Federation. The content varies depending on what is fundamentally important for a particular couple. If you want to conclude a prenuptial agreement, its essence is simple: to foresee all property risks as much as possible, reduce the ground for conflicts and ensure security for both parties. 

Conditions of the marriage contract

The first and, perhaps, the main condition: the marriage contract must be concluded by mutual agreement. 

“If the husband wants to sign the document, and the wife desperately resists, then it will not work to conclude a contract,” explains Volkov. – One of the couple often comes to us, lawyers, and asks: how to persuade the other half to a marriage contract? Usually it is the one who has more property. In the mentality, the conclusion of such agreements has not yet been accepted, insults immediately begin, they say, don’t you trust me?! Therefore, we have to explain to people that if everything is done correctly, they will only be in the black. 

The second condition: the contract must be concluded only in writing, in the presence of a notary. 

 “Previously, spouses could simply conclude an agreement on the division of property between themselves, but they began to abuse this,” Volkov shares. – For example, a husband could borrow a million, then quickly, almost in the kitchen, conclude an agreement with his wife, and when they come for the debt, shrug: I have nothing, everything is on my beloved wife. At the notary, the date cannot be faked, besides, he explains everything in such detail that later no one will have the opportunity to say: “Oh, I didn’t understand what I was signing.”

The third condition: only property issues should be registered in the contract. Spouses can set three modes of ownership: 

a) Joint mode. It is understood that all property is in common use, and in a divorce is divided equally. 

b) Shared mode. Here, each of the spouses owns his share of the property, for example, an apartment, and can dispose of it as he wants (sell, donate, and so on). The shares can be anything – they are often divided “in fairness”, for example, if the husband earned most of the money, then ¾ of the apartment belongs to him. 

c) Separate mode. When choosing this option, spouses usually agree as follows: you have an apartment, I have a car. That is, everyone owns what he owns. You can register ownership of anything – up to forks and spoons. You can also share responsibilities, for example, that everyone pays for his loans himself. 

Pay attention! All property that is not spelled out in the contract is automatically considered jointly acquired. In order to avoid unpleasant situations, the legislator provided for the possibility of amending the marriage contract, the conditions may change during family life. 

Another important point: these modes can be combined. Financial obligations can be written in the document (for example, the wife pays utilities, and the husband regularly refuels cars with gasoline). But it is impossible to prescribe in the contract the order of personal relations and limit the legal capacity or legal capacity of the spouses. 

“People sometimes ask if it is possible to include insurance against treason in the contract,” the lawyer says. – For example, if the wife cheats, she will leave with what she came. This is a practice known in Europe, but not applicable in Our Country. Our legislation does not allow regulating personal rights and obligations, this is already a restriction of the rights of another. That is, a man will not be able to deprive his wife of property if she does not go into his bedroom on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Sometimes they ask to prescribe this as well, but, fortunately, or unfortunately, this is impossible.

Conclusion of a marriage contract

There are three options for signing a contract. 

1. Find a ready-made marriage contract on the Internet, supplement it as you wish and go to a notary. 
   
2. Contact a lawyer who will help you correctly draw up a document, and only after that go to a notary’s office. 
   
3. Go directly to the notary and ask for help there. 

“Based on my experience, I can advise you to stop at the second option,” Volkov shares. – A self-made contract, most likely, will have to be redone, and notaries will take more money for registration than lawyers. Therefore, the best option is to draw up a contract with a competent lawyer, and its certification by a reliable notary. 

In order to draw up a marriage contract, you need to take with you the passports of both spouses, a marriage certificate and documents for every thing that you want to register for yourself. Moreover, it doesn’t matter what it is: an apartment or your grandmother’s favorite picture. If you have definitely decided that you need a prenuptial agreement, the conclusion will take time, but then you will be calm. 

When does it take effect 

It is possible to draw up a marriage contract regulating property relations both before and after the wedding. This allows you to avoid ugly situations when, for example, a wealthy groom asks to conclude a marriage contract, the bride agrees, and after receiving the long-awaited stamp in her passport, she says “I changed my mind!”. 

However, the contract comes into force only after the official registration of the marriage. Along the way, it can be changed or terminated, but only with the consent of both parties. After a divorce, it loses its validity (except in situations where the spouses have prescribed otherwise). 

“Sometimes a husband and wife can agree in advance that after a divorce, if one of them gets into trouble and loses his ability to work, the second will pay him a certain amount,” the lawyer shares his experience. “It’s kind of a safety net, and it has a place to be. 

Advantages and disadvantages

Lawyers are sure that there are much more pluses in a prenuptial agreement than minuses. 

“The main disadvantage is that the offer to conclude a contract can greatly offend,” Volkov is sure. – Indeed, it is unpleasant for a young bride in love to hear such an offer from the groom. Yes, and from a beloved woman before the wedding, I want to hear something else. But, if you manage to explain to the second person that this is his insurance, he usually agrees. 

The second disadvantage is the payment of state duty and notary services. At the beginning of a relationship and in the pre-wedding mood, you don’t want to think about a possible divorce, so spending seems stupid. But in the future, on the contrary, this will help save on legal costs and payment for lawyers. Of course, only in case of divorce. 

The third minus is that a more authoritarian spouse can simply force the other half to sign the contract the way he needs. However, the second person still has the opportunity to ask all the questions to the notary and at the last moment to refuse a disadvantageous offer. 

Otherwise, the prenuptial agreement has only positive aspects: it allows people to protect themselves from conflicts and showdowns, save nerves and money on courts, and also understand in advance what can be lost as a result of constant quarrels or betrayals. 

An example of a prenuptial agreement 

Many people, when deciding to draw up such a document, still do not understand how exactly property can be divided. If there is no understanding of what a prenuptial agreement is, an example will help to finally understand this. 

“Each marriage contract is individual,” Volkov notes. – More often they are concluded by people who really have something to lose. But it also happens that a couple just wants to do everything right and never think about it again. For example, a young man lives for himself, slowly building a business at a car wash. He invests money in it, spins it. And then he falls in love, gets married and starts to make a profit already in marriage. The family does not yet have any property, but in the future the newlyweds plan to buy a car and an apartment. Then they conclude an agreement and, if both are adequate, they will choose an honest, comfortable option for everyone: for example, after a divorce, leave the apartment to the husband, who invested most of the amount in it, and the car to the wife, because she helped save and protect the family budget.

Popular questions and answers

We asked the chairman of the Vlasov & Partners Bar Association Olga Vlasova answer various questions that arise among citizens in connection with the conclusion of a marriage contract.

– Opinions on the advisability of concluding a marriage contract vary. However, in recent years, there have been more and more questions from customers regarding this topic. It is worth highlighting a number of issues that will give a broader understanding of this document, which is still specific to s, the expert says.