MARRIED COUPLES WILL BE ABLE TO APPLY FOR JOINT BANKRUPTCY

The draft law concerning the judicial division of the jointly acquired property of the spouses, the possibility of joint bankruptcy of the husband and wife, as well as the registration of the joint property of the married couple has been adopted by the lower house of parliament in the first reading.

The document provides for a number of innovations in the field of substantive relations in marriage.

In particular, the draft law contains a provision on the division of property as a whole, as the total mass of "assets" and "liabilities".  Now there are cases when the divorce proceedings are accompanied by the division of only part of the property, after which one of the former spouses again goes to court to divide the rest.

This practice increases the burden on the courts, increase the expenses of the process participants themselves and is inherently ineffective.  It is much easier and faster to divide up everything acquired in marriage within the framework of one judicial case.

In addition, the new law introduces the changes to the bankruptcy procedure for individuals.

In the event of a joint debt of the husband and wife, it is proposed to introduce a joint bankruptcy procedure for the spouses, which can be initiated on the basis of their application.

It is also proposed to change the process of adding information on the joint property in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.  According to the new rules, such a record will be made almost automatically, the statement of one of the spouses can serve as the initiator as well as the decision of a government agency, if such a right arises by the force of law.