Ignorance about the rights during divorce leads to a variety of problems. Some people think that they can privatize what they want, but the reality is different in the legal industry.
According to advocate Anush Maghakyan, regardless of the fact whose property right of the spouses is registered upon the acquired property during the marriage, it is jointly owned by spouses, unless otherwise provided by law or by the marriage contract. Spouses’ property, however, is not a considered as joint property if the spouse has received it as a gift or inheritance.
With regard of the children’s care, here the particular circumstances are considered, such as one of the spouses is disabled or is poor condition of the property, as well as other vital factors. Issues on possession, use, and disposition of property that is in joint ownership are regulated under the provisions of Article 198 of the RA Civil Code.
Ms Maghakyan informed Iravaban.net that the RA Civil Code provides for certain restrictions. In the past if the married couple wanted to divorce, property was divided into two equal parts; the money was given to the children and to ensure their keeping costs. However, the situation is different today. “Today there is a problem which we often encounter. During the divorce, the woman who had come to live with her husband at the latter’s home, may have had property, which she had given as a gift or sold during the joint life, then she stays with nothing. Basically, it is a situation where for many years she lived in the house of her husband and then appears in the street she had come with nothing and is going with nothing.”
The advocate proposes to implement legislative changes, “Let there be limitations, but also let it be so, that after the divorce she know where to go and if there are minor children, the means to care for them; that is the procedure of extracting alimony should be clearly specified. If we, the advocates defend the wife’s rights at the time of divorce, we are unable to find solution for that problem so that the wife is not left on the street. Perhaps the biggest gap and practical problem in such cases is the woman’s future status,” said the advocate.
Lilit Shaboyan
