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Family law Establishing the fact of living as one family

Sulyk Roman

Head of family law practice

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sulyk@prikhodko.com.ua

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An attorney with extensive experience specializing in complex family disputes. As Head of Practice, he combines deep legal expertise with a personalized approach to every client. He ensures strategic protection of family interests and delivers impeccable results in the most challenging cases.

Establishing the fact of living as one family

In the modern world, civil marriage is quite common, which indicates a potential decrease in the number of official marriages between citizens. Why does this happen?

First of all, it should be remembered that the modern generation of citizens differently considers the possibility of when to get married and how to carry out this process in general, which leads to a long life together and leading life together.

However, the lack of a legal fact that would confirm that citizens lived for a certain period of time as one family, creates many problems in practice.

For example, there are questions about the division of property that individuals acquired during a civil marriage or with whom children will live, etc.

This shows the relevance of this topic. Therefore, in this article we will talk about how to establish the fact of living with one family, taking into account the legislative provisions of Ukraine.

How can one establish the fact of living with one family?

In order to establish such a fact, a person needs to contact the judicial authorities.

In addition, the SCU notes that a family consists of citizens who meet the following criteria:

They have been living together for a long time. It is worth noting that the legal period of cohabitation between persons is not established, but it should be sufficient to fully assert that a relationship has developed between persons, which is usually characteristic of spouses;
Living together;
Acquisition of mutual rights and obligations of spouses.

In addition, the Constitutional Court, in its decision dated June 3, 1999, in case No. 1-8/99, noted that cohabitation between persons should be considered:

family members – both husband and wife;
Maintaining a joint budget – both income and expenses;
Shared meals;
Acquisition of both movable and immovable property for the purpose of future and joint use of it;
Participating in the costs of housing maintenance – this can be the payment of utility services or repairs in real estate, etc.;
Providing and receiving mutual assistance;
Establishing clear rules in both oral and written format regarding the procedure for using a shared residential building;
Other circumstances that may indicate the existence of real family relations between persons.

Importantly! Judicial authorities may consider the case of establishing the fact of residence by one family under the following conditions:

when there is no dispute about the rights of citizens;
when a clear purpose can be seen in the application for the establishment of a fact, for which such a fact is needed at all (division of property between persons, inheritance by law). If this goal is not clearly stated or is absent at all, then the court refuses to satisfy the requirements in the case – decision of the Supreme Court in case No. 513/1005/20 of March 22, 2023;
when persons have lived together for at least 5 years.

What documents must be submitted together with the statement of fact?

A person who wants to establish the fact of living together as one family submits the following documents to the judicial authorities along with the application:

Documents confirming the fact of cohabitation between persons without registration of marital relations. For example, these can be – certificates from the place of residence, written statements and explanations of witnesses, birth certificates of children, letters of a personal nature both in paper and electronic form, etc.;
Documents confirming the fact of joint management of the farm. For example, it can be – opening and replenishing bank accounts with joint funds, receipts for the purchase of both movable and immovable property, registration of debt obligations and loans, etc.

The above list of documents is incomplete and may increase depending on the specific circumstances of the case.

What will be the cost of the court fee?

As of January 1, 2023, the cost of the court fee for filing an application for this category of cases is 0.2 of the subsistence minimum for able-bodied persons, which is UAH 536.80.

If you need to establish the fact of living as one family, then in this case, you cannot do without experienced lawyers – the Prikhodko and Partners law firm.

Establishing the fact of living as one family

How can one establish the fact of living with one family?

What documents must be submitted together with the statement of fact?

What will be the cost of the court fee?

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