Autonomous University of Santo Domingo

FIRST OF AMERICA
Founded on October 28, 1538
FACULTY OF LEGAL SCIENCES AND POLITICS
Postgraduate and Continuing Education Division

The Marriage Regimes

Analysis of the Dominican Civil Code and the draft Dominican Civil
Code

Teachers:

Ennar Montero F.
Ulises Roa L.
Carlixto Juliao P.
Lupo Hernandez B.
Dellanira Valenzuela
Mary Carmen Olivo

Teacher:

Dr. Martha Díaz Villafaña

Santo Domingo de Guzman,

Dominican Republic
May, 2016
 INTRODUCTION

The modification of the Civil Code, one of the most persistent demands of
society in the last 10 years, began to become a reality on the night of May 12,
when the Chamber of Deputies approved the piece in first reading and
unanimously.

It is recalled that the piece needs a second reading in the Lower House. It is
proposed that this new project, which seeks to modify the Civil Code of the
Dominican Republic, so that it is updated to adapt it to the changes that have
been occurring in the sociocultural relations of the nation.

Also the ability of the surviving spouse to inherit and many aspects that will
make the Civil Code a modern tool, which will have to strengthen legal security
such as the provision that regulates when the sale is simulated by a loan
contract, which was a demand of the peasant sectors.

According to the report presented by the special commission, the modifications

address issues such as the classification of people, acts of civil status, those
who are absent, marriage, divorce, de facto marital union, filiation, minority,
guardianship and emancipation.

Also the distinction of assets, inheritances, payment of gifts inter vivos, wills,
contracts or conventional obligations, payment, transfer of assets, the act under
private signature, the oath, the commitments that are made without convention
and product liability.

MARRIAGE CONVENTIONS
This constitutes a set of acts, rules and clauses adopted by people who have
the purpose of joining through the bond of marriage, in order to establish the
regulations that will determine their assets during the marriage and their fate
upon the dissolution of the marriage. this.

Marriages

Among the innovations contained in the new Civil Code is that Protestant
religions will be able to make marriages official; The de facto marital
relationship is recognized, and women may be sued for child support.

Another relevance that is established is that when the damage is caused by

torture and barbaric acts, violence and sexual assaults committed against a
minor, the civil liability action will prescribe after 20 years.

In the case of the celebration of marriage according to the modification in

Article 189, correct the wording to read: 'Article 189.- Any marriage that has
not been publicly celebrated before the competent Civil Registry Officer may
be challenged by the spouses themselves. , by their parents, by their
ascendants and by all those who have a certain and current interest, as well as
by the Public Ministry, except for religious marriages and those carried out
abroad.'

Article 283, correct reference to read: 'articles 257 to 282, 284 and 285';

Article 1199, correct the wording of the capital part to read: 'Article 1199.-
Fathers and mothers and other ascendants, collateral relatives of the spouses,
and even strangers, may have access, by marriage contract, to the all or part of
the assets that they will leave on the day of their death, both in favor of the
said spouses, as well as in favor of the children who are to be born from their
marriage, in the event that the donor survives the donee spouse.

Article 1622, eliminate the grammatical paragraph that says: 'Mention is made
of the modification or substitution in the marriage contract.'

Free unions

In the new Civil Code, free unions (or concubinage) will be recognized, which
gives rights to both couples, therefore, their marital relationship cannot be
ignored even if they are not legally married, so what is established is complied
with. in the Constitution.

He explains that the objective of recognizing these rights is that these spouses
do not lose their legal rights and that in the event of the possibility of the death
of one of the two, it can be registered so that it is less traumatic.

“The marital relationship exists whether you register it or not.”

Right of usufruct

In the case of inheritances or other legal rights, the children of a couple in a

common-law union have the same inheritance rights as those born from a legal
marriage. The couple (widower or widower) will also have inheritance rights.
OF SUCCESSIONS

With regard to the inheritance regime enshrined in the Third Book of the norm
included between articles 718 and 892; and in the draft Civil Code it is found
in the Third book, between articles 751 to 789, it can be seen that there are
changes, from the title to part of its content, in the sense that the norm
establishes the following manner: Of the opening of successions and
obligations for the heirs; while the project says: Of the opening of successions
of the right of heirs.

Regarding the way in which successions are opened, a change occurred and
when the project comes into effect, successions will not only be opened due to
the death of the person from whom they derive; but in addition to death,
successions are opened by the judicially declared absence of the deceased or
absent person.

The project specifies in a unified manner what is inherited, that is, only what
is inherited that the deceased was not excluded through liberalities and respect
for the hereditary reserve is maintained.
It is established that conventions whose purpose is the creation or renunciation
of rights over a succession will only produce effects if they are authorized by
law.

Article 1685, correct the wording to read: 'Article 1685.-The partitions

between co-heirs are subject to the rules established in title I, of successions,
with respect to everything related to their formalities, partition of the
community, maintenance of indivision and attribution of preference, bidding
for goods, effects of partition, guarantee and balance'.

Article 1920, sixth line, delete 'comma' after the word 'heirs';

Article 1922, grammatical paragraph, second line, replace the word 'buyer', so
that it says 'acquirer', so that it says: '...without fraud by the acquirer';

Article 1984, second line, add commas in the expression 'by the lessor or, in
his absence, by the new purchaser';

DISTRIBUTION OF ASSETS

Addressing the problem of the distribution of assets between the three masses
that make up the community regimes involves determining the content of the
proper and common assets of the marital patrimony.

JUDICIAL SEPARATION OF ASSETS

The separation of assets can be main or accessory, depending on whether it is

the consequence of a main action, initiated for that purpose or the result of a
personal separation pronounced judicially. A de facto separation does not
cause the separation of assets.

WILLS
Article 775, first line, correct the phrase: 'When the father and mother die
before the deceased', to read: 'When the father and mother have died before
the deceased';

Article 859, correct the wording to read: 'Article 859.- The court of first
instance in whose district the case was opened will appoint a curator at the
request of the interested persons or at the request of the Public Ministry.'

Article 921, modify the capital part, second line, to add the expression: 'on the
date of enjoyment', after the word: 'value', so that it reads: 'Article 921.- In
view of the distribution, the assets They are estimated at their value at the date
of enjoyment, as established...

Article 932, capital part, third line, before the word 'participant', replace the
article 'one' with 'another'; '...at the diligence of another partner,...' And in the
first grammatical paragraph, first line, replace the demonstrative 'this', so that
it reads: 'that'; second line, correct 'a coparcener', to read 'the other
coparceners'; 'In the absence of that co-participant becoming an agent within
three months of the default, the other co-participants may sue...

Article 981, fourth line, replace the word eviction with 'same', so that it reads:
'..., evaluated on the day of the same'.

Article 1039, modify to read: 'Article 1039.- Whenever the testator has
expressly declared his will for a specific legacy to be paid with preference to
others, this preference will take place, and the legacy that is the object of it
will not be will be reduced except insofar as the value of the others does not
fully cover the legal reserve. When the testamentary provisions exceed either
the available portion or the part of this portion that remains, once the value of
the inter vivos gifts has been deducted, the reduction will be made pro rata
without any distinction between universal and particular legacies.'

Article 1086, correct wording to read: 'The holographic will will only be valid
if it is written...;

Articles 1088, 1092 and 1093, where it says 'mechanically or electronically',

refers to the same writing method. Delete 'or electronically', to read: '...by
hand or mechanically'.

Move article 1095 so that it becomes 1096 and 1096 so that it becomes 1095,
and correct the wording of article 1095 so that it reads: 'Article 1096.- In the
event that the testator cannot speak but can write, he may make a mystical
will, with the express obligation that the will be written and signed by him,
that he will present it to the notary and the witnesses and that on the
subscription document he will write in their presence that the paper he
presents to them is his will and he will sign . Mention will be made in the
subscription document that the testator has written and signed those words in
the presence of the notary and the witnesses, observing the rules prescribed in
article 1093.

Mortgages

Article 2325, paragraph 3) replace the word 'previous' with 'previous', so that
it reads: '...when the conservation expenses are prior to the birth...;
Article 2364, grammatical paragraph, fourth line, eliminate 'commas' after the
words 'acquires' and 'she', so that it reads: '...assets that you acquire from now
on are also affected by the custom mortgage...;

Article 2391, second grammatical paragraph, part in fine, eliminate the phrase
'in the first paragraph', so that it reads: '...include the aforementioned clause';

Article 2392, modify to read: 'Article 2392.- When the mortgage has been
registered by application of article 2350, it can only be canceled or reduced
while the transfer of administration lasts, by virtue of a ruling from the court
that ordered it. When the transfer of administration ceases, the cancellation or
reduction may be carried out under the conditions provided for in article
2391'.

Article 2407, modify to read: 'Article 2407.- Abandonment due to mortgage

will be carried out before the secretary of the court where the assets are
located, who may issue certification.

THE DEBTS

Article 1401, correct the wording to read: 'Article 1401.- The debtor of an
obligation that produces interest or income must apply the payment made with
preference to these, and if there is any surplus, to the capital.'
Article 1421, grammatical paragraph, second line, add the word 'debt', after
'connected to', so that it reads: '...insofar as it is related to the debt that the
creditor...;

Article 1422, correct the wording to read: 'Article 1422.- Debts that are not
payable in the same place may not be compensated, unless the expenditure of
the remittance has been agreed.'

Article 1425, correct the wording to read: 'Article 1425.- He who has paid a
debt that by law was extinguished by compensation, will no longer be able,
when trying to realize the credit for which he has not opposed compensation,
to prevail to the detriment of a third party, of the privileges and mortgages that
were attached to him, unless he had no just cause to ignore the credit that
should compensate his debt.'

Amend section 1443 to be a paragraph of section 1442, and renumber as

follows;
CONCLUSION

When analyzing the modifications we have seen the capacity of the surviving
spouse to inherit and many aspects that will make the Civil Code a modern
tool, which will have to strengthen legal security such as the provision that
regulates when the sale is simulated by a contract of loan, which was a
demand from the peasant sectors.

According to the report presented by the special commission, the

modifications address issues such as the classification of people, acts of civil
status, those who are absent, marriage, divorce, de facto marital union,
filiation, minority, guardianship and emancipation.

Also the distinction of assets, inheritances, payment of gifts inter vivos, wills,
contracts or conventional obligations, payment, transfer of assets, the act
under private signature, the oath, the commitments that are made without
convention and product liability.

To conclude (for the moment), I call on civil society to maintain constant

observation of this historical process, which after more than ten years has been
resumed by the Chamber of Deputies, so that it is legislated with due
participation. citizen and thus obtain a Code, legally agreed upon and adapted
to our reality, which has changed a lot since 1884.