PRIMARY MATRIMONIAL REGIME AS REGULATED BY THE CURRENT ROMANIAN CIVIL CODE. MARRIAGE EXPENSES

Abstract

Renouncing the binding nature of the legal matrimonial regime[1], upon adoption of the new Civil Code, the Romanian lawmaker consecrated the patrimonial freedom of the spouses to decide as they deem appropriate and fit with regard to the property that is the object of their property relations. The New Civil Code establishes the principle of the freedom of choice of the matrimonial regime, the future spouses having the choice to enter, outside the regime of the legal community of property (the only possible matrimonial regime according to the previous regulation of the Family Code), into a matrimonial convention, on the basis of which they shall “join” either the separation of property regime or the conventional community of property regime.Regardless of the matrimonial regime chosen, whether legal or conventional, there is a common core of imperative, non-derogatory rules, which provide a minimal protection of the property relations between spouses.The imperative primary regime is enshrined in the Civil Code in force, in Book II, About Family, Title II – Marriage, Chapter VI – Property Rights and Obligations of Spouses, Section 1 – Common Provisions, Paragraph 1 – About the General Matrimonial Regime (Art. 312-320), Paragraph 2 – The Family Dwelling (Art.321-324), Paragraph 3 – Marriage Expenses (Art.325-328).In this article, the property obligations of the spouses present in the text of the law under the name of Marriage Expenses (Art. 325-328 Civil Code) are the subject of a legal review, highlighting a higher degree of concern on the part of the lawmaker, as compared to the current one, in drafting the Family Code, in terms of their regulation in relation to the accelerated dynamics of social relations.[1] Under the Family Code, which was abrogated with the entry into force of the current Romanian Civil Code, the matrimonial regime of the spouses was that of the community of goods, unique, mandatory and immutable. For development, see Vasilescu, P. Regimuri matrimoniale. Partea generală (Matrimonial Regimes. The General Part), Rosetti Publishing House,Bucharest, 2003, page 258;