In the Vitebsk region, 194 married couples concluded a marriage contract

September 22, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. Last year, 194 married couples concluded prenuptial agreements in the Vitebsk region, Deputy Head of the Main Justice Department of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee Marina Bykova told a BELTA correspondent. Belarusians gained the opportunity to sign prenuptial agreements in 1999 with the adoption of the Code of Marriage and Family, Article 13 of which states: "In order to strengthen marriage and family, improve the culture of family relations, realize the rights and obligations of spouses, responsibility for children and for each other, persons entering into marriage and spouses can conclude a prenuptial agreement." However, statistics on the conclusion of contracts have only been kept since 2009. There is a trend towards an increase in the number of prenuptial agreements concluded, but it is insignificant: out of 100 thousand notarial actions performed by notaries in the region last year, only 194 concerned the certification of such agreements. According to the interlocutor, the conclusion of prenuptial agreements lies not only in the legal but also in the ethical plane. "A citizen should have such a right, but our mentality perceives marriage as a union of lovers, where the material component is not important," believes Marina Bykova. By the way, an analysis of prenuptial agreements, which Vitebsk notaries conducted a few years ago, showed that most often the contract was concluded by spouses whose relationship was close to dissolution, in order to avoid wasting time on clarifying property rights in case of divorce proceedings. -0-