Concepts, features and types of family relationships

Case from practice

A married couple comes to the reception. Problems with my son, an 8-year-old boy. For the last six months he has been having hysterics, for no reason at all, “I don’t want to, I won’t.” Moreover, anything: dress, walk, exercise, eat. Screaming, screaming, beating fists. I ask about the circumstances of his life - he studies at the same school as before, lives in the same place, no special events have happened recently, no illnesses, no accidents, no tragedies, no births. According to the parents, everything is as it was. And the child is hysterical. I'm asking around. It turns out that alone with each of his parents the boy is much calmer than when the three of them get together. I ask a logical question, what is their relationship with each other? It turns out, not very much. It’s so bad that they’ve already decided to get a divorce. When did you decide? Half a year ago. At this point I mentally say “Ahh” and offer them family therapy. Perhaps the child’s problems arose not only against the background of a marital crisis, but until this field is cleared, it is pointless to work with the child - he cannot solve the problems of adults. The couple agreed and, to their credit, they worked conscientiously. It turned out that they want to be together, but they don’t know how. In the process of therapy, we learned to negotiate, take into account each other, distribute responsibility, and help. And the child’s tantrums went away.

By what criteria can we judge how good a marital relationship is?

1. How satisfied are both partners? The criterion is obvious, very important, but not so simple. That is, if both are satisfied and happy, everything is great. And if not? Does this mean that love has passed and you can either endure it, because “now it’s a family,” or get a divorce and look for new love? And if you don’t endure and don’t run, then what should you do: change someone else, “twist yourself into a ram’s horn”?

Relationships change and marital relationships are no exception. It is important to be able to translate the problem of dissatisfaction into a task. How to talk about your dissatisfaction with respect for both your feelings and your partner’s condition. How to express your requests so that they are heard. And how to accept your partner’s opportunity to refuse, because a request is not an order, not a job description, the other person may not want or be able to fulfill it. This is not taught in schools or even universities. If you are lucky, constructive methods are learned in the parental family. If it happened otherwise, maybe the only way to learn without breaking your forehead is to contact a psychologist.

1. A good marital relationship allows partners to grow and develop , leaving enough space for both individuality and togetherness. If at some point the relationship turns out differently, it may feel like you have to choose: either/or. Meanwhile, it is the successful combination of both needs that is important. Sometimes it's a long and winding process. Sometimes it's anecdotally simple.

As in the situation when one morning a seventy-year-old woman, who celebrated her golden wedding with her husband, while cutting a bun for breakfast, decided that she had given her best to her husband enough and could finally keep the soft part for herself. She handed the fried crust to her husband, and he cried out with gratitude: “Thank you, dear! I can finally eat my favorite, crunchy part.”

In any case, you need attention to your needs, sensitivity to your partner and a willingness to talk, clarify, and negotiate. Often, as with the bun, some possibilities don't even come to mind. And, sometimes, questions from a psychotherapist or family psychologist open your eyes to new horizons.

1. An important criterion is the couple's ability to cope with difficulties , or more generally, with change. Because throughout the life of a family, various events occur: births and deaths, moves and changes, age-related crises and unexpected opportunities. The birth of a child cannot be called a difficulty, although the difficulties increase with the appearance of the baby, and it is imprudent to ignore this. Likewise, changes in financial status, especially rapid ones, can cause problems even when wealth increases, as surprising as that sounds. Change always becomes a test for marital relationships. How a couple copes with this test - redistributing responsibilities, providing support, looking for new ways to interact - depends on many variables. Including the desire to maintain relationships and the ability to do so.

Legal basis of family and marriage relations

Family law

- an independent branch of law, the norms of which regulate family and marital relations. Family law is the only field where morality and law are closely intertwined. The independence of family law is evidenced by the nature of family legal relations. Firstly, they are based on marriage, kinship, maternity and paternity, and adoption. Secondly, family and marital relations are predominantly personal and legal, and only then property relations are taken into account. Thirdly, family relationships are characterized by a personal and trusting nature, since the main place in them is occupied by the personal connections of family members.

Thus, family legal relations are social relations regulated by the norms of family law, in which its participants are bound by property and personal non-property rights and obligations arising from marriage, kinship, adoption and other forms of placement of children left without parental care.

These are the main specific features of marriage and family relations, distinguishing them from property and non-property ties as a subject of civil law regulation.

The subject of family law is relations that arise only between subjects of law, whose duties are regulated by family law, arising on the basis of family and marital ties.

Subject

regulation of family law is not the family as such, but the relationships existing between its members - family relationships (Article 2 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation - RF IC).

Method

family law is a set of methods, means, and techniques for regulating relations that are part of the subject of family law. These methods and techniques are divided into two types: prohibitions and permissions.

Under the principles

family law refers to the basic basic provisions on which family legal relations should be based. These include:

• the principle of protecting family, motherhood, fatherhood and childhood;
• recognition of a legally registered marriage;
• equality of spouses in the family;
• priority of family education of children, concern for their development, well-being, priority protection of their rights and responsibilities;
• family protection by the state.

Family legal relations arise as a result of legal facts, which are understood as specific life circumstances with which the rules of family law associate the occurrence of certain consequences. In family law, legal facts bind only individuals, not legal entities.

The concept of marriage and family relations

Marriage is the foundation of a family. That is why the state attaches great importance to compliance with the conditions of his imprisonment.

The concept of marriage. Most adults are married. It is not defined in law. It is given by scientists - lawyers, philosophers, sociologists. In the legal literature, marriage is defined as a legally formalized, free and voluntary union of a man and a woman, aimed at creating a family and giving rise to mutual personal and property rights and obligations for them.

The law specifically emphasizes that conjugal rights and obligations arise only in a registered marriage. The actual cohabitation of a man and a woman does not give rise to family legal relations.

Why is such categorical importance attached to state registration of marriages? The fact is that it is registration that makes it possible to really guarantee the protection of a wide variety of rights of family members. For example, alimony, housing, and inheritance rights of spouses are protected only after presentation of a marriage certificate.

The marriage is registered in accordance with the Family Code of the Russian Federation in the state civil registry authorities after a month has passed after the bride and groom have submitted a joint application. If there are valid reasons, the monthly period may be reduced or increased, but not by more than one month. Such reasons could be, for example, an urgent departure on a business trip, conscription for military service, etc. This albeit short period of time allows you to test your feelings and get to know each other better.

The law sets out the conditions for marriage. They can be divided into two groups: positive (since the presence of such conditions is mandatory) and negative (their presence prevents marriage). Positive conditions include mutual consent of the persons entering into marriage and their reaching marriageable age. Negative conditions include being in another marriage, being closely related to the bride and groom, declaring a person incompetent due to mental illness or dementia.

So, the most important positive condition is the mutual consent of the bride and groom to marry. This condition is determined by the very essence of marriage, which presupposes a free and equal union of a man and a woman. Consequently, marriage cannot be concluded under duress, no matter from whom it comes (from parents, from one of the persons entering into marriage, etc.). The bride and groom must submit a joint application to the civil registry office and personally attend the marriage ceremony.

The second positive condition is reaching marriageable age. In Russia it is equal to eighteen years. True, local governments can reduce it if necessary, but not for more than two years. This happens, for example, if a woman is pregnant, gives birth to a child, etc.

Subjects of the Russian Federation may allow in their legislation, as an exception, marriage by persons under the age of 16.

The law also establishes obstacles to marriage (in other words, negative conditions for its conclusion). First of all, marriage between persons, at least one of whom is already married, is unacceptable. This ban is based on the principle of monogamy, which means that by law a man and a woman can only be in one marriage at a time. Bigamy and polyandry are criminalized.

Marriage between:

• relatives in a direct ascending (children, parents, grandfather, grandmother) and descending (grandfather, grandmother, parents, children) line;
• full (having a common father and mother) and not full (having only one common parent) brothers and sisters;
• adoptive parents and adopted children.

Marriages with incapacitated members of society are not allowed because these persons are not able to be aware of and manage the actions they take. The disease deprives them of the opportunity to exercise conscious will when entering into marriage. It is important to keep in mind, however, that it is not the illness itself, but only the court decision made before the marriage to recognize such persons as incompetent that is an obstacle to marriage.

Nullity of marriage. Violation of the conditions of marriage leads to the court declaring it invalid. This means that the rights and obligations of the spouses in such a marriage are canceled from the moment of its registration. In other words, it was as if the marriage did not exist.

True, such consequences do not occur if one of the spouses concealed during registration that he was in another, undivorced marriage. In this case, the erring spouse in good faith has all the same rights that he would have in a real marriage: the right to preserve the surname chosen during registration, the right to receive alimony from the guilty spouse, etc.

Protects the law and the rights of children born in a marriage declared invalid. They have the same range of rights as children born in a valid marriage.

The court may also invalidate a fictitious marriage, that is, a marriage that does not have the purpose of creating a family. As a rule, the purpose of a fictitious marriage is mercantile, in other words, it is aimed at obtaining various benefits (rights to living space, sums of money, etc.). And finally, the court may, at the request of one of the spouses, invalidate the marriage if the other spouse concealed the presence of a sexually transmitted disease or HIV infection.

The termination of a marriage occurs due to the death of one of the spouses or the declaration of death of one of the spouses. Marriage also ends by dissolution.

A marriage is dissolved by the registry office when there are no common minor children, if the court recognizes the spouse as missing, if the court recognizes the spouse as incompetent, or if the spouse is sentenced to imprisonment for a term of more than three years.

Personal rights and obligations of spouses

Both spouses have personal and property rights. Marital rights and obligations appear from the moment the marriage is registered in the registry office, that is, they arise in a legal marriage, and for the future. The personal relationship between wife and husband is inextricably linked with marriage or family relationships. In marriage, spouses have equal personal rights. They are based on the equality of men and women in family relationships. Let's figure out what the personal rights of spouses are.

First of all, it should be noted that they are closely related to the personality and are inseparable from it and, unlike property rights, do not have economic content. What are these personal rights and responsibilities of spouses? This is the right to choose a surname, to freedom of choice of activities, places of stay and residence, the right to raise children, and the responsibilities for their upbringing.

Recently, constitutional, civil, housing and other legal relations have undergone major changes, which have entailed the need to expand the list of personal rights of spouses.

The Family Code of the Russian Federation introduced into the personal rights of spouses, along with the concept of “residence”, meaning place of registration, such a concept as “residence”, i.e. actual location. Most of the personal rights, for example, choice of profession, occupation, determination of places of stay and residence, they had before marriage, others appeared in connection with marriage.

One of the important personal rights belonging to spouses is the right to determine their surname. The choice of a surname is a personal matter for those getting married. A spouse registering a marriage by personal desire and mutual consent may choose the surname of his spouse, making it common, or retain his premarital surname, or, unless otherwise provided by the laws of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, add the surname of the other spouse to his surname. The combination of surnames is not allowed if the premarital surname of at least one of the spouses is double. A change of surname by one of the spouses does not entail a change of surname of the other spouse. As a rule, persons entering into marriage choose a single surname, and most often the wife prefers the husband's surname. By giving those entering into marriage the right to choose a single surname, the law thereby contributes to the unity of spouses and their children. Often a husband takes his wife’s surname, for example, because of its euphony. Imagine: the man registering the marriage has the surname Rat, and the wife is Krasavina. And there is nothing surprising or strange in the desire of a spouse to take his wife’s surname. This issue is resolved only at the time of marriage registration; subsequent changes to the surname are allowed only in cases and in the manner prescribed by law. A change of surname by one of the spouses does not entail the obligation to change the surname of the other. Upon divorce, the spouse has the right to retain the surname that belonged to him at the time of divorce, even if the other spouse objects, or to return to his premarital surname. Each spouse decides this issue independently, guided not only by personal considerations, but also by the interests of their children.

Each of the spouses is free to determine their place of stay and residence. Having registered a marriage, the spouses are not at all obliged to live together, each of them is free to choose a place of residence at his own discretion, he is free from coercion in resolving this issue, although one of the signs of a family, a natural feature of marriage, is living together; It is cohabitation that serves as the basis for a strong family and normal upbringing of children, which is basically what takes place in life. The place of residence of children is determined by the place of residence of the parents, and their place of stay is determined by the decision of the parents.

The spouse’s freedom to choose an occupation or profession means that each of them independently determines the type of their activity, but, based on the interests of the family, coordinates with it, however, the final decision belongs to each spouse.

Disagreements between spouses regarding personal legal relationships (choice of profession, surname, place of stay and residence) are not considered by government agencies.

The law also includes among the important personal rights of spouses-parents their right to raise and educate children. The father and mother also decide these issues by agreement among themselves, since each of them has an equal right to the child. Very often in families the following question arises: which parent has the right to receive sick leave to care for a child? They assume, of course, that it is the mother, and they are mistaken, because they forget about the principle of equality of parents, i.e. the father also has the right to receive such sick leave.

Raising and educating children is not only the right, but also the responsibility of parents. Not only they and their children, but also society and the state are interested in the proper fulfillment of this responsibility. Amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the Law on Education affected the content of the rights and responsibilities of parents in the upbringing and education of children. The law directly obliges parents to ensure that their children receive basic general education. Parents, taking into account the opinions of their children, have the right to choose an educational institution and the form of education for their children until their children receive basic general education.

One of the personal rights and responsibilities of parents is the right to protect the interests of children, to act, if necessary, on behalf of their minor children in all relevant institutions.

If there is no agreement on decisions related to raising children, each spouse can apply to the guardianship and trusteeship authority or the court to resolve the dispute. For example, a dispute regarding the upbringing of a child by a parent who does not live with the other child is resolved in court.

The personal rights and obligations of the spouses, their scope, execution and nature are determined in advance, establish the legal status of the spouses, and finally, they are decisive in comparison with property ones.

The whole variety of property legal relations that develop between spouses can be combined into two groups: relations regarding marital property and relations regarding mutual material support (alimony).

Property owned by spouses can be personal (separate) or common.

What property is personal? These are things that belonged to each of the spouses before marriage, as well as those received by each of them during marriage as a gift, by inheritance or through other gratuitous transactions. In addition, the spouses’ personal consumption items (clothing, shoes, etc.) are naturally separate. The exception to this is luxury items (for example, jewelry). Due to their high value, they are subject to the regime of common property, although they are consumed, as a rule, by one of the spouses. This means that in the event of a dispute, these items are transferred to the spouse using them, for example, jewelry to the spouse. But she returns half of their cost to the other spouse. And finally, spouses can agree to transfer into the personal ownership of each of them any objects from their common property.

What is characteristic of the legal regime of personal property? The owner-spouse owns, uses and disposes of it, naturally, independently, without asking the consent of the other spouse.

Common property is property acquired by spouses during marriage. In addition, it is possible to transform the personal property of one of the spouses into common property if, during the marriage, joint investments of labor or funds were made into it, which significantly increased its value. For example, a major overhaul carried out by joint efforts turns a dacha, which belonged to one of the spouses before marriage, into their common property.

Spouses dispose of such property with common consent. Moreover, it is fundamentally important that this consent is assumed - it is not required that it be expressed in writing. And only transactions for the disposal of real estate, as well as transactions requiring notarization or state registration, can be carried out by one spouse only after the notarized consent of the other spouse.

Spouses have equal rights to own, use and dispose of common property. It should be especially emphasized that these rights are guaranteed even if one of the spouses (usually a woman) was engaged in housekeeping, caring for children, or for other valid reasons did not have independent income (was ill, studied, etc.) . Agreements between spouses that derogate from the rights of one of them in relation to property are recognized by the court as invalid, that is, as if they had not taken place.

How is the division of property that is the common joint property of spouses carried out? Typically, such a division is made in connection with the dissolution of a marriage, but it is also acceptable in other situations (for example, when determining the size of the surviving spouse’s share in the inherited property).

In the absence of a dispute, the spouses enter into an agreement on the division of property, which, if they wish, can be certified by a notary office. If a dispute does arise between spouses regarding the division of property, it is resolved by the court. When dividing property, the shares of spouses are recognized by the court as equal. However, the law allows the court to deviate from this rule, taking into account the interests of minor children, as well as the compelling interests of one of the spouses. For example, the share of one of the spouses can be increased if the other spouse avoided socially useful work or spent property to the detriment of the interests of the family.

Can a husband and wife enter into various transactions with each other? Yes, and usually these are gift agreements. Spouses, as a rule, do not enter into paid contracts (purchase and sale, rental, etc.), since they are incompatible with the nature of the marital relationship.

The new Family Code of the Russian Federation allows spouses to enter into a marriage contract. In such an agreement, the spouses themselves determine property rights and obligations both during the marriage and in the event of its dissolution.

Spouses are obliged to financially support each other. Most often, this duty is performed voluntarily. Otherwise, spousal support may be ordered by the court.

However, the right to receive alimony arises only in the simultaneous presence of three circumstances:

A special case is the right of a wife to receive alimony from her husband during pregnancy and for three years after the birth of the child. In addition, the right to receive alimony has a needy spouse who is caring for a common disabled child until such a child reaches 18 years of age or for a common child who has been disabled in group I since childhood.

The right to receive alimony can be retained by the spouse even after the divorce. However, a prerequisite for this is the onset of disability during marriage or no later than one year after its dissolution.

If the marriage was long, the court may collect alimony in favor of the divorced spouse even if he reached retirement age no later than five years after the divorce.

Alimony in favor of the spouse is determined in a fixed amount and is paid monthly. However, spouses can, by their consent, determine the amount of alimony and the procedure for its payment.

Does the law protect the interests of the spouse obligated to pay alimony? Yes, and this is expressed in the fact that the court can release him from the obligation to support the other spouse or limit this obligation to a certain period. However, the court makes such a decision only if the marriage was short-lived, if the behavior of the spouse demanding payment of alimony was undignified, and also if the incapacity of the spouse in need of help resulted from the abuse of alcoholic beverages, drugs, or as a result of his committing an intentional crime. .

In what situation is the right to receive alimony by a spouse lost? This happens if at least one of the grounds for receiving maintenance disappears (for example, the spouse’s ability to work has been restored, his pension has been increased, and thereby the need has been eliminated). The right to receive alimony is also lost if the spouse receiving maintenance funds enters into a new marriage. The alimony obligation in such a situation is assigned to the spouse of the new marriage.

So, in order to better assimilate the material about the property rights and responsibilities of spouses, it is advisable to divide their entire circle into two groups: relations regarding marital property and alimony relations.

Matrimonial property relations are characterized by a combination, established by law, of the separateness of certain categories of property of the spouses and the community of everything acquired during the marriage. Do not forget that the legal regime for the property of spouses is valid only if the marriage contract does not provide otherwise.

In regulating alimony relations between spouses, attention is drawn to the imperativeness (obligatory nature) of the conditions for their occurrence defined in the law. If at least one of them disappears, the alimony obligation also ends. However, the law regulates alimony relations only if the spouses themselves have not determined the amount and procedure for their payment in their agreement.

Case from practice

A young couple came to the reception. The firstborn is 7 months old. The wife is tortured and appears to be in despair. She is with the child from morning to night, there is absolutely no one to leave him with to catch his breath even for a second. She asks for her husband, but he comes home from work late, tired, no attention, no care, no help, no support. The husband is angry and withdrawn. He “plows” from morning to night to provide for his family, to create decent conditions for them, he comes exhausted and “no attention, no help, no care, no support.” It seems to both of them that there is no longer a relationship, only fatigue and mutual reproaches. At the same time, they came to a family psychologist, that is, they have hope and desire to change the situation. The beginning of changes occurs at the very first meeting, when the specialist asks everyone to talk about themselves, their feelings, states, experiences and respond to their partner with feelings too. This helps clarify and provides an opportunity to hear the other, understand, sympathize and think together about how to move forward.

Marriage is joy and work, new opportunities and new obligations. And the willingness to seek help if necessary is evidence of the openness and maturity of the partners.

The concept of marriage under family law in Russia

Marriage is the official registration of a relationship between a man and a woman. It allows you to obtain the status of legal spouses, which makes it possible to enjoy some of the benefits available only to husband and wife.

Signs of marriage in the Family Code

The Family Code defines not only the concept of marriages, but also defines the main features that characterize unions in the Russian Federation:

1. This is a union between a man and a woman, whose rights are protected by the state. The Russian government does not support same-sex marriage, so the union can only be monogamous.
2. Citizens can register relationships only by mutual consent. Other people's opinions are not taken into account.
3. Husband and wife are completely equal in all rights and responsibilities.
4. Regulated by rules established by legislative acts.
5. Only a union that was concluded in accordance with the rules and conditions established by the Russian state is recognized as a legal marriage.
6. The purpose of marriage is to create a full-fledged family, but the birth of children remains the choice of the spouses themselves. The absence of common children does not affect the legal status of the marriage.