Extremely unfavorable material situation as a ground for recognition of a marriage agreement invalid

Abstract

The article is devoted to the issue of the evaluation category of Ukrainian legislation - “extremely unfavorable financial situation”, enshrined in the fourth part of Article 93 of the Family Code of Ukraine, as a basis for declaring a marriage contract invalid in court. The positions of domestic and foreign scholars on the criteria for classifying the position of one of the parties to a marriage contract to an extremely unfavorable financial position are considered. The attempts of legislators to enshrine in the Family Code of Ukraine specific features of extremely unfavorable financial situation under the marriage contract and provided a legal assessment.The practice of the Civil Court of Cassation of the Supreme Court in cases of recognizing a marriage contract as fully or partially invalid due to the extremely unfavorable financial situation of one of the spouses, in particular: 1) in connection with the transfer of all property to one of the spouses (acquired before marriage to another spouse, acquired in marriage, after divorce); 2) in connection with the personal contributions of one of the spouses to the property jointly owned by the spouses or the personal private property of the other spouse (recognition of the per-sonal property of one of the spouses as invested in the construction of a joint house; payment for an apartment by one of the spouses and his relatives, most of which belongs to the other spouse).Based on scientific doctrine, legislative initiatives and case law, it is generalized that there are three main criteria for recognizing an extremely disadvantageous financial situation: an imbalance in the division of marital property; encroachment on the income of one of the spouses to the other spouse; burdensome maintenance of relatives of one of the spouses to the other spouse.It is concluded that it is inexpedient to specify the grounds for recognizing the extraordinary disadvantage of one of the parties to the marriage contract at the level of law. Instead, it is proposed to improve the general provisions on the rights and obligations of spouses, listed in the Family Code of Ukraine, as those that are decisive for the court’s assessment of the position of the parties to the marriage contract.