Russia may declare couples 'actually' married after 5 years of cohabitation

PanARMENIAN.Net - A draft law seeking the introduction of the concept of "actual marriage relations" into Russia's Family Code has been submitted to the State Duma, TASS reports.

The document, in fact, equates unregistered relations between men and women to official marriage with all the legal consequences after five years of cohabitation.

"Actual marital relations are not the established union of a man and a woman living together and leading a common household. The preconditions of actual marital relations are the cohabitation for five years or the cohabitation for two years and having a child (children) together," the text of the proposal reads.

Under the initiative, in the event of one of the abovementioned circumstances, the union of a man and a woman comes to be considered an actual marriage relationship and presumes corresponding rights and duties of spouses provided for by family and civil legislation.