цивільний шлюб

Article 74 of the Family Code of Ukraine establishes rules governing property division in “civil marriages,” meaning that a woman and a man live together as a family but are not legally married to each other or to anyone else. Any property acquired by a couple in a civil marriage while living together is their joint property that will be shared or divided equally after the marriage ends, unless otherwise defined in a written agreement. Thus, in theory, the legal status of the property acquired by persons in a civil marriage is the same as the legal status of the property of the spouses.

The appellant sued his wife, the defendant, with whom he was in a de facto marital relationship (i.e., their marriage was not officially registered), to return funds unjustly acquired by her. According to him, he had won the national lottery and received a prize in the amount of UAH 400,000. While he was abroad, the defendant withdrew these funds from his bank account without his knowledge. The appellant believed that the defendant had no claim to his winnings and that he should get the money back.