Problems of Interpretation of Paragraph 2 of Article 35 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation in Russian Legal Science and Jurisprudence

The paper analyzes the issues of interpretation and application of the presumption of spousal consent in transactions involving the common property of spouses. Presumption of spousal consent to carry out transactions with common property is considered in the context of its correlation with the principle of equality of spouses, including property relations. The paper deals with the jurisprudence on this issue, including the decisions of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. The author has determined practical problems in the field of application of this rule of law. The author comes to the conclusion that the legal regulation of the legal regime of property of spouses, in force at present, has a number of shortcomings that not only violate the rights of co-owners of the specified property, but also, in our view, are often contrary to the law. In particular, the current jurisprudence with regard to paragraph 1 of section 2 of Article 35 of the RF Family Code contradicts both the constitutional rule enshrined in Article 35 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation providing for the protection of the interests of the owner and the norms of the Family Code of the Russian Federation establishing the principle of equality of spouses in property relations (Articles 21, 31, 35). The paper gives reasonable proposals to improve the legislation. To this end, the author suggests the following wording for Paragraph 1 of Section 2 of Article 35 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation: “When one of the spouses carries out a transaction in the administration of the common property of the spouses, it is assumed that one spouse acts with the consent of the other spouse. This assumption applies exclusively to the legal relationship of spouses with third parties.”