Does lawful marriage concluded abroad, which contradicts to Lithuanian material conditions, may be recognized in Lithuania?

Pagal LR Konstituciją šeima sudaro visuomenės ir valstybės pagrindą. Visuomenėje santuokos samprata kinta ir nevienodas jos reglamentavimas didėjant gyventojų migracijai kelia didelius iššūkius. Šio darbo problema yra ta, kad Lietuvoje santuokai sudaryti yra nustatytos materialinės sąlygos, kurios gali skirtis nuo panašių sąlygų kitose valstybėse ir tada iškyla teisinis klausimas, ar teisėtai užsienyje sudaryta santuoka, prieštaraujanti Lietuvos materialinėms santuokos sudarymo sąlygoms, yra pripažįstama Lietuvoje. Šiam darbui keliami tokie uždaviniai: (1) apžvelgti įvairias santuokos sampratas; (2) ištirti užsienyje sudaromų santuokų įvairovę; (3) išanalizuoti santuokos sampratos kitimo tendencijas Lietuvoje; (4) išsiaiškinti materialinių sąlygų reikšmę šeimos sudarymo metu; (5) aprašyti teisėtos santuokos sudarymo pagal Lietuvos Respublikos teisę materialines sąlygas; (6) išanalizuoti teisės aktus, reglamentuojančius užsienyje sudarytų santuokų pripažinimą Lietuvoje; (7) nustatyti sąlygas, kurioms esant, teisėtai pagal užsienio valstybės teisę sudaryta santuoka, negalėtų būti pripažįstama pagal Lietuvos Respublikos teisę. Šio darbo tikslas yra ištirti užsienio valstybėse sudarytų santuokų, kai jos sudarytos pažeidžiant Lietuvos Respublikos teisėje nustatytas materialines santuokos sudarymo sąlygas, pripažinimą Lietuvoje. Šio darbo objektas – užsienyje sudarytų santuokų pripažinimo kriterijai pagal Lietuvos Respublikos teisę. Įgyvendinant darbo tikslą, daugiausia dėmesio buvo skiriama santuokos sampratos, santuokos sampratos kitimo Lietuvoje tendencijų ir santuokų įvairovės pasaulyje tyrimui, santuokai taikomų materialinių sąlygų apibrėžimui ir funkcijų nustatymui, įvairiems teisėtos santuokos Lietuvoje sudarymo aspektams, užsienyje sudarytų santuokų pripažinimo Lietuvoje tyrimui. Šis iškeltas tikslas darbe sėkmingai įgyvendintas – išanalizavus šeimos teisės literatūrą, Europos Sąjungos valstybių teisės aktus ir Lietuvos Respublikos teisės aktus. Vadovaujantis įvairių autorių literatūra atskleista, kad Lietuvoje santuokos samprata visuomenėje keičiasi, egzistuoja įvairios teorijos, kurios pretenduoja pateisinti santuokos institutą, valstybėse labai įvairiai reglamentuojami ne tik reikalavimai santuokai sudaryti, bet ir skirtingai pripažįstamos kitose valstybėse sudarytos santuokos. Lietuvos Respublikoje yra nustatytos būtinos (materialinės) sąlygos santuokai sudarytų, kurių neišpildžius santuoka neregistruojama. Atlikus tyrimą, darytina išvada, jog iškelta hipotezė, kad teisėtai užsienyje sudaryta santuoka, prieštaraujanti Lietuvos materialinėms santuokos sudarymo sąlygoms, gali būti pripažįstama Lietuvoje, nepasitvirtino, papildomai paaiškinant, kad taip pat tokia santuoka nėra pripažįstama negaliojančia.The title of this work: Does lawful marriage concluded abroad, which contradicts to Lithuanian material conditions, may be recognized in Lithuania? The tackled problem in this work is that there are certain established material conditions for marriage conclusion and recognition in the Republic of Lithuania, which can be different from the similar conditions in other countries and thus, important legal question can be formulated, does lawful marriage concluded abroad, which contradicts to Lithuanian material conditions, may be legally recognized in Lithuania? The actuality of this problem is that after the collapse of Iron Curtain, the world began to move toward globalization and immigration increased at high levels as the states opened up their borders to worker, capital and businesses mobility. The marriage itself is going through dramatic changes in last several decades and the regulation of marriage very often is different at the core from one country to another. Most of the countries have established material conditions for marriage, which should be met, if couple want to register their union. But it is very different situation when it comes to recognizing lawful marriages concluded abroad. The Republic of Lithuania has its own rules for recognizing such marriages and this topic of master thesis deals with it. Thus it is of fundamental importance to answer question: Does lawful marriage concluded abroad, which contradicts to Lithuanian material conditions, may be recognized in Lithuania? The object of this work – the criteria of lawful marriage concluded abroad recognition in the Republic of Lithuania. The following tasks were set for this works: 1. To review various definitions of the marriage. 2. To do research on basic features of the marriage in foreign countries. 3. To analyze the dynamics of the marriage definition transformation in the Republic of Lithuania. 4. To clarify the importance of Lithuanian material conditions in the event of the marriage registration in the Republic of Lithuania. 5. To describe the material conditions for marriage in the Republic of Lithuania. 6. To analyze legal acts, which regulates the recognition in the Republic of Lithuania lawful marriages concluded abroad. 7. To determine the conditions, which are necessary to fulfill in order register lawful marriages concluded abroad. The objective of this work is to do research on the recognition of marriages concluded abroad, which contradict to Lithuanian material conditions. As research on this question progressed, a lot of attention were devoted to review of the various definitions of marriages and how the requirements for marriage can differ from country to country, to do research on legal requirements (the material conditions) for marriage and to the basic features of marriage process, and lastly to various aspects of lawful marriages concluded abroad recognition in Lithuania. The objective was successfully achieved by analyzing family law literature, EU legal acts, scientific publications, wide range of social scientist literature and the Republic of Lithuania legal acts. On the grounds of this research it was determined, that the definition of marriage changed dramatically from the second Independence times; there are various theories, which try to justify the institute of marriage; the recognition of marriages concluded have different material conditions for marriage registration and even the process, how other foreign countries recognize marriages concluded abroad, can have huge differences from country to country. The research showed, that the Republic of Lithuania has very strict regulation on the recognition of marriages concluded abroad. First, the authorities of Republic of Lithuania check if material conditions for marriage recognition in specific foreign country differ from those set in the Republic of Lithuania. The material conditions in the Republic of Lithuania requires the spouses to be of a different sex, prohibition of bigamous marriage, capacity to marry requires the age of 18, prohibition of marriage between relatives in straight line and collateral line till the third degree, the spouses should make voluntary decision to marry and the spouses should have legal capacity. If they are different, then authorities check if specific marriage was made on basis of that different material condition. If it is confirmed, such marriage is declined to be registered and does not have any legal consequences. But also, such marriage is not recognized as invalid by authorities. The Republic of Lithuania family law has very conservative rules for the recognition of lawful marriages concluded abroad. Many Western countries adopted more liberal approach, and it is normal to recognize all kinds of lawful marriages concluded abroad. Even persons in the state of polygamy marriages concluded abroad can have all the benefits of family social protection in society, as it is the case in UK. After the research, the conclusion can be made that the hypothesis that lawful marriage concluded abroad, which contradicts to Lithuanian material conditions, may be recognized in Lithuania, is not confirmed, with added important clarification, that also neither such marriages are made invalid.Vytauto Didžiojo universiteta