According to the statistics of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine for 2023, 186,051 marriages were registered by Ukrainian civil registry offices, which is almost 37,000 less than in 2022. However, with such a large number of marriages in 2023, only 2,586 marriage contracts were concluded by spouses.

A marriage contract is an agreement that allows spouses to regulate property relations, determine rights and obligations, maintenance of one of the spouses, payment of alimony, and so on, in case of divorce.

In numerous countries of the world, marriage contracts have already become common practice, helping couples to consciously and practically solve issues related to property rights. In Ukraine, the institution of the marriage contract was first introduced in 1992 in Article 27-1 of the Marriage and Family Code, and since 2004, the conclusion of a marriage contract has been regulated by a separate Chapter 10 of the Family Code of Ukraine.

It is worth noting that the marriage contract can be concluded both before and during the marriage. However, the law sets restrictions on the subject of the marriage contract. In particular, the marriage contract cannot regulate the personal relations of the spouses, as well as the personal relations between them and their children; the marriage contract cannot reduce the scope of children’s rights, which are established by the Family Code of Ukraine, nor can it put one of the spouses in an extremely unfavorable financial situation; according to the marriage contract, immovable property and other property, the right to which is subject to state registration, cannot be transferred to the ownership of one of the spouses.

It is important to keep all these limitations in mind and to consult with an experienced lawyer when drafting the marriage contract; this will help to conclude an agreement that takes into account all nuances and minimizes the risks of misunderstandings in the future.

When entering into a marriage contract, the parties may deviate from the equality of rights to possession, use, and disposal of property, defined in Article 63 of the Family Code of Ukraine, as well as from the equality of shares in the property provided for in Article 70 of the Family Code of Ukraine. In particular, it may be established that certain property that belonged to one of the spouses before the marriage or will be received during the marriage as a gift will become their joint common property; the size of shares in the ownership of property acquired during marriage may be determined at the discretion of the spouses; conditions for the division of joint property in the event of a divorce, as well as the procedure for the repayment of each of the spouses’ debts at the expense of joint or separate property, may be stipulated; a regime of use can be established for a particular object, namely, which property each spouse can dispose of without the consent of the other, and which property can be disposed of only by mutual consent (of course, this applies not only to immovable or movable property but also to business assets and bank accounts). The marriage contract may also contain a condition not to apply to the property acquired by them during the marriage, the provisions on joint common property, and the condition to consider this property as joint partial property or personal private property of each of them.

Thus, spouses or persons wishing to enter into marriage can include in the marriage contract any conditions regarding the legal status of property, if they do not contradict the moral principles of society.

Also, the general term of its validity and the term of duration of individual rights and obligations may be established in the marriage contract; the validity of the contract or some of its conditions may be established even after the dissolution of the marriage; the property which wife or husband passes for use on common needs of the family, as well as the legal status of the property gifted to the couple because of the registration of their marriage, may be determined; the use of the property belonging to both of them or to one of them may be provided to satisfy the needs of their children, as well as other persons.

A marriage contract can establish conditions for providing support to one of the spouses, determine the conditions, amount, and terms of alimony payments. Such provisions of the marriage contract, in the event of their non-fulfillment, are the basis for the execution of an executive order of the notary, which, in turn, is an executive document.

Attention should be drawn to the fact that the marriage contract must be concluded in writing, is subject to mandatory notarization, and enters into force on the day of the conclusion of the marriage or on the day of its notarization (in the case of conclusion after marriage registration).

The marriage contract can be amended by the spouses by concluding a notarized agreement on the amendment of the marriage contract or by a court decision at the request of one of the spouses.

The main guarantee of ensuring the rights of the spouses and the execution of the marriage contract is the absence of the possibility of making changes to the contract unilaterally and the impossibility of unilateral withdrawal from the marriage contract.

However, the marriage contract may be terminated by a court decision at the request of one of the spouses, in particular in the case of the impossibility of its execution, and the parties may also renounce the contract by submitting an application to the notary to renounce it. Under such circumstances, the rights and obligations established by the marriage contract are terminated on the day the court decision enters into force or on the day the statement of refusal is submitted to the notary.

The decision to enter into a marriage contract is a personal matter for each couple, and it cannot be guaranteed that it will resolve all potential conflicts in the future. However, world experience shows that marriage contracts do not indicate distrust but rather create guarantees for the future.