Marriage is a voluntary, equal partnership of a man and a woman with legal consequences and concluded with the aim of creating a family.
In accordance with paragraph 2 of Article 1 of the Family Code of the DPR a marriage is recognized if it is registered only in a civil registry office. Thus, the rights and obligations of spouses arise from the date of state registration of marriage in the civil registry office (Civil Registry Office).
When entering into marriage, all forms of restriction of the rights of citizens on the basis of social, racial, national, linguistic or religious affiliation is prohibited in family relations (Clause 4 of Article 1 of the Code).
The conditions for the registration of a marriage are the circumstances that must be available for its legal registration. The Code provides two prerequisites for marriage:
– mutual voluntary consent of a man and a woman entering into marriage;
– reaching the marriageable age.
Based on Article 13 of the Code, the marriageable age is established from 18 years. However, the law provides for cases of marriage of persons who have not reached the age of 18. Thus, if there are valid reasons (childbirth, pregnancy, immediate threat to a life of one of parties), local government bodies at the place of residence of persons wishing to marry may, at the request of these persons, allow persons who have reached the age of 16 to marry.
It should be noted that there are also barriers to the marriage. These are the circumstances of life, the presence of which does not allow the state registration of marriage on a legal basis.
According to Article 14 of the Code, marriage is not allowed between:
1) persons, of whom at least one person is already in another registered marriage;
2) close relatives (relatives in a direct ascending and descending line (parents and children, grandfather, grandmother and grandchildren), full and half (having a common father or mother) brothers and sisters);
3) cousins and sisters, aunt, uncle and niece, nephew;
4) adoptive parents and adopted children;
5) persons, of whom at least one person has been recognized by the court as incapable due to a mental disorder.
If one of the persons entering into marriage hid the presence of a venereal disease or HIV infection from another person, the latter has the right to apply to the court with a demand to declare the marriage invalid (Article 15 of the Code).
It should be noted that according to Art. 158 of the Code, the conditions for registering a marriage in the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic are determined for each of the persons entering into marriage, by the legislation of the state of which the person is a citizen at the time of the marriage, in compliance with the requirements of Article 14 of the Code in relation to the circumstances that prevent its conclusion.
In addition, if a person, along with the citizenship of a foreign state, has the citizenship of the Donetsk People’s Republic, the legislation of the DPR applies to the conditions of marriage. If a person has the citizenship of several foreign states, the legislation of one of such states shall be applied at the choice of this person.
For state registration of marriage, an application for state registration of marriage is personally submitted by a woman and a man to the territorial department of the registry office or to an authorized local government body of their choice.
If a woman and (or) a man cannot, for a valid reason, personally submit an application for state registration of marriage, such a statement (the authenticity of the signature on which is notarized) can be submitted by their representatives. The authority of the representative (s) must be confirmed by a notarized power of attorney.
In accordance with Art. 11 of the Code, the marriage is concluded in the personal presence of the persons entering into marriage, after a month and no later than 12 months from the date of submission of the application to the civil registry office on the date and at the time determined by the persons entering into marriage when they submit an application on the registration of marriage.
If there are valid reasons, the civil registry office at the place of state registration of marriage may authorize the registration of a marriage before the expiry of a month from the date of submission of the application for the registration of marriage.
In the presence of special circumstances (pregnancy, childbirth, immediate threat to a life of one of parties and other special circumstances), the marriage can be registered on the day the application is submitted.
