Russia may simplify the procedure for choosing a surname at the time of marriage

Russia may simplify the procedure for choosing a surname at the conclusion of marriage. Such a bill was submitted to the State Duma on February 20 by the deputy "New People" Ksenia Goryacheva, who proposed to change the mechanism of changing the surname at marriage. The document was familiarized with "Izvestia" on February 20.

According to the explanatory note to the bill, if one of the spouses wants to leave his surname, and the other - to make a double, the person has to additionally undergo the procedure of changing the name and separately change documents.

The new bill solves this problem - spouses will be able to choose a convenient option immediately at the registration of marriage: leave their surnames, take each other's surname or join the surname of the spouse - one or both, in any order.

"When preparing for the wedding, I faced an unexpected difficulty: if one of the spouses wants to join the surname of the other, but the second leaves his own, it can not be formalized immediately - you need to change the documents through a separate procedure. Making an additional bureaucratic adventure sounds like a challenge. But there are enough complications in life without it, so our bill updates an outdated mechanism. It's not about surnames, but about convenience and respect for people's choice," Goryacheva explained.

Now spouses have only three options to change their surnames when registering a marriage: they can either leave their surnames, or take each other's surnames, or both take a double surname - but only if it is provided by regional laws. The introduced initiative is aimed at creating more comfortable conditions for those getting married. Updating this mechanism will allow people to immediately make a choice that is convenient for them, without additional administrative procedures.

Last year, lawyer Victoria Sitdikova told Izvestia whether it is necessary to change real estate documents when changing the surname. According to her, the legislation of the Russian Federation has no prescription obliging to change the documents confirming the right of ownership or use of real estate when changing the surname and, as a consequence, when changing the main document of a citizen - passport.