When a marriage is concluded, the civil registry office must verify that all the requirements of the law on this issue are met. However, Kasyanenko & Partners Law Company continues to receive requests from clients asking for help in recognizing the marriage as invalid.
A marriage can be annulled at the Civil Registry Office if:
- on the day of marriage registration, the newlyweds have not yet reached the legal age for performing this procedure;
- one of the spouses is in another marriage;
- marriage is between blood relatives;
- one of the spouses is incapacitated;
- forced or violent imprisonment.
In court, a marriage can be declared invalid if it is proved that it was entered into under duress or is a fiction. A fictitious marriage is a marriage that is not concluded for the purpose of creating a family and accepting the accompanying rights and obligations of the spouses. The court may declare a marriage invalid if it was concluded between the adoptive parent and the child, cousins, or if the spouse withheld essential information at the time of marriage (dangerous illness, etc.).
If the marriage is declared invalid, then this invalidity begins with the official registration of the relationship of the newlyweds. A marriage can be declared invalid even after the divorce process and division of property.
Separately, it should be noted that if one of the newlyweds was absent at the time of marriage, such a marriage is generally considered to be one that was never concluded.
Please note!
In cases where at the time of marriage registration one of the spouses was in another official relationship (they were terminated before the latest act was annulled), the remarriage begins to be valid from the date of dissolution of the previous one.
If the spouse is in a position, the marriage with her cannot be dissolved. The same applies to persons who entered into a marital relationship before reaching the required age, but at the time of the trial, they were granted this right.
Legal proceedings and consequences of the annulment
The court makes a decision to declare the marriage invalid, taking into account the following factors:
- duration of the marital relationship;
- proof of joint residence of the spouses;
- presence or absence of children (in marriage, before it, joint children);
- the weight of the evidence provided by the plaintiff in support of its legal position.
Speaking about the legal consequences of invalidating a marriage, it should be noted that the norms of the CCU or other laws of Ukraine will not be applied to the spouses. All property acquired jointly in a marriage is the property of the spouses following the rights of shared ownership. Cohabitation will be terminated, and the former spouse may be evicted from the second spouse’s living space. If there was a payment of alimony, the person making such payments can file a claim to the court that there are insufficient grounds for such a procedure. This will help you get back some of the money you have already paid. In this case, the marriage must be declared invalid.
Kasyanenko & Partners Law Company specialists are ready to provide clients with advice on invalidation of marriage and other issues in this area of law. Our lawyers have many years of experience in conducting such cases, as well as representation in courts on family matters.
