European principles and division of common property of spouses: implementation in national family law

The scientific article examines the importance of the implementation of European principles for the reform of norms regarding the division of common property of spouses. It was revealed that European researchers indicate a number of problems that arise in cross-border marriages (the spouses are citizens of different EU member states or foreign countries) in the case of the division of common property, when the marriage ends in divorce or the persons were not married, but in a registered partnership, but as well as cases when one of the parties dies during the trial. It has been established that the issues of implementation of European principles for the reformation of national norms regarding the division of common property of spouses have not been sufficiently investigated. It was revealed that at the level of the European Union, the formation of joint approaches to the regulation of property relations lasted more than one decade. The adoption of the first public acts was preceded by a number of scientific studies and publications. Adoption of European legislation on the regulation of property relations of spouses was defined as a priority in the Vienna Action Plan of 1998. In 2011, «Proposals on the Regulation of the Council on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law and Recognition and Enforcement of Decisions in Matters of the Spousal Property Regime» were developed and submitted to the Parliament, which were withdrawn six years later. It is substantiated that the activity of the Commission on European Family Law plays an important role in the harmonization of family law within the framework of the European Union. At the same time, among European scientists there is still no unity in the position of whether it is even possible to harmonize the family law of European states. Based on the analysis of the scientific works of European scientists, three main groups of views on this issue are distinguished. It has been established that there is an ongoing discussion among European and national scientists about the harmonization of European family law. We share the approach that legal norms are already being harmonized in the sphere of regulation of individual institutions of family law, and under the influence of globalization and digitalization, the harmonization of family law of different EU member states will accelerate. Amendments to the Family Code of Ukraine are proposed for the implementation of European principles to the institution of the division of joint property of spouses.