Russian Legislation Novelties on Protection of Family Rights

The State Duma adopted the Federal Law «On Amendments to the Family Code of the Russian Federation and Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation» (draft No. 835938-7). The paper discusses and analyses the new provisions of the Family Code of the Russian Federation from the point of view of scientific and law enforcement approach. The new version of paragraph 2, paragraph 3, Article 35 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation creates prerequisites for considering the fact that the counterparty in the transaction knew or should have known about the absence of the notarized consent of the spouse as a basis for recognizing transactions on the disposal of community property requiring such a notarized consent. In order to avoid different interpretations in judicial practice, the author substantiates the conclusion on the extension of the provision of paragraph 2 of paragraph 2 of Article 35 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation on the need to prove the above-mentioned fact to transactions provided for in paragraph 3 of Article 35 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation. Special attention is given to transactions on the disposal of exclusive rights, which may also be part of the community property. It is also concluded that it is advisable to enter the state of marriage of the owner of the exclusive right to registered objects into the registers of the Federal Service for Intellectual Property and the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation. Having considered the novelties of paragraph 2 of Article 39 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation on the expansion of the grounds for departing from the principle of equality of the spouses’ shares in the division of property by the court in relation to the provisions of paragraph 2 of paragraph 2 of Article 35 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation, the author concluded that it was expedient to apply these norms in cases where the dispute on the recognition of the transaction invalid was not considered by the court, including if the statute of limitations has been missed, or it has not been possible to prove that the other party to the transaction knew or should have known about the other spouse’s disagreement to make the relevant transaction.

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