Dead SVO fighters will be married retroactively with the help of Themis

Getting married after the death of the groom is a seemingly unthinkable thing. But in the conditions of the Northern Military District, even this becomes a reality. A group of parliamentarians on Tuesday introduced a bill to the State Duma that would give the common-law wives of dead soldiers the opportunity to enter into official marriage relations with them. True, for this you will have to go through a judicial procedure. But at the end of the day, the widow – now a full-fledged widow – will be able to receive all the required benefits and an inheritance.

There are many “informal” families in Russia. Not all couples go to the registry office even after the birth of children. They live for themselves, and thank God – until the thunder strikes. And when it came in the form of a mobilization summons, it was too late to run to the registry office. As a result, the common-law wives of the dead or missing soldiers were left with nothing: from the point of view of the law, “she is not his wife.” This means that a mourning scarf is required, but benefits and allowances are not. Inheritance, by the way, is also not allowed if the common-law husband did not leave a will for his other half.

To rectify the situation, amendments to the law “On the entry into force of part three of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation” were developed and submitted to the State Duma. The authors are the working group on SVO of the First Deputy Speaker of the Duma Andrei Turchak, Senator Andrei Klishas and the head of the Duma Committee on Legislation and State Construction Pavel Krasheninnikov.

Behind the tricky name of the bill lies a fundamentally new scheme for Russia: women will be able to officially marry dead or missing people.

“We are talking about relationships that were not formalized in the registry office before the SVO, but where in fact the serviceman served as a spouse and breadwinner,” Anatoly Turchak explained the essence of the amendments.

What is important: the issue of legalization of the family will essentially be decided in court. In order for the decision to be in favor of the “common-law widow”, it is necessary to prove that the couple was in an “actual family relationship” for at least three years and ran a joint household. If there is a common child, the period is reduced to one year.

The idea is certainly good and necessary. But questions still arise at this stage.

For example, should a judge take a lady’s word for it? Naturally not. This means that she will have to prove that, yes, they lived as one family and ran a household. Most likely, the procedure will be similar to the one you have to go through when it is necessary to recognize the fact of a family relationship.

How to prove that you lived together? Ideally – documents. If a couple has a common apartment or house, registered as shared ownership. Strangers will not bind themselves with a certificate of ownership of real estate. For many, this is worse than marriage. Or they rented an apartment and both were included in the contract as tenants. Or, for example, there are receipts for housing and communal services: either he paid or she paid. They can also be raised for all past years and requested from banks. In general, our courts love documentary evidence; it is easy to attach it to the case.

The second way is through the testimony of witnesses. Relatives, neighbors, friends – anyone who can confirm that family relationships really existed and existed specifically within the time frame specified by legislators.

But then the question immediately arises: what, the witnesses can’t be persuaded? This is in no way an attempt to denigrate any of the grieving common-law wives of our fallen heroes. But let’s imagine a purely hypothetical situation. A certain lady appears in court with a group of witnesses and states that she lived for three years with citizen N, who died in the Northern Military District zone. The witnesses all say: yes, they lived in perfect harmony. Only now the relatives from the common-law husband’s side are in no mood to see their “wife” for the first time in their lives. Is this possible?

Or another scenario. Families are different. In some, the man comes home every evening after work. In others, he goes on business trips for six months at a time. How then to decide whether they lived together for three years or whether he came and went? How then to calculate the deadlines?

With common children, it will be much easier for the courts to make a decision. And even then, what if one of the relatives of the deceased comes into the meeting room and says that a month after the birth of the baby, the family boat crashed into everyday life? Then, judging by the text of the bill, the prospect is unenviable – leaving the application without progress and moving from simplified special proceedings to classic claims. It’s painfully long. And it’s just painful.

Russian legislation has a structure that is the opposite of what parliamentarians want to create – recognizing a marriage as fictitious. There it is necessary to prove that the couple did not have an actual relationship, even though there is a stamp in the passport. Lawyers, and even judges themselves, get a little eye twitch from such cases. There is too wide a field for manipulation there.

Well, a couple more problem areas. The authors of the amendments write: “died in connection with participation in a special military operation or in connection with residence or temporary stay in the territories of a special military operation.” That is, these are the LPR, DPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. And if you died from a drone attack near Belgorod or from shelling in the Bryansk region – what should you do?

It is possible that as we move through the corridors of the State Duma, the amendments will continue to acquire new amendments. Or later, when the law is adopted, the Plenum of the Supreme Court will provide explanations for the judges. As the Duma members themselves like to talk about “raw” bills: the main thing is that the concept is correct.

“Marital relations established in court will be considered a marriage. They will be recognized as legal, which gives the “de facto” spouse the right of inheritance and access to social and other benefits. The adoption of the bill will provide family members with financial support from the state,” Pavel Krasheninnikov explained the idea of ​​the bill.

And another very important nuance: the bill implies a retroactive mechanism. This means that the scheme for judicial registration of marriage will also apply to relationships that arose before its adoption. That is, the common-law wives of all fighters who have died since the beginning of the war will be able to go to court.