Features of implementation of the wife's right to choose a surname: comparative and applied aspects

In the scientific article, the author conducted a scientific study of the comparative legal and applied features of the implementation of the right of brides, spouses and ex-spouses to choose a surname. Based on the conducted research, the author came to the conclusion that the right to choose a surname can be understood in three meanings - as the right of brides, spouses (as "the right to change the surname”) and former spouses. Persons who have the right to choose a surname are: spouses, i.e. a woman and a man who have submitted an application to the state registration body of civil status acts, but have not yet married; a spouse, i.e. a woman and a man who are together in a registered marriage (however, provided that they changed their last name upon marriage); former spouse, that is, a woman and a man who were in a registered marriage that has already been dissolved (similarly, provided that the surname of the former spouse was changed at the time of marriage). The family legislation of Ukraine provides, first of all, a non-judicial procedure for the exercise of the right to choose a surname - it is implemented through the acceptance of a corresponding application for state registration of marriage or an application of a spouse or ex­spouse to change the surname; judicial procedure is envisaged only in cases of exercising the right of former spouses in the context of resolving a dispute about the dissolution of their marriage. Given the ambiguity of judicial practice in the scientific literature, it is suggested that a person who changed his surname in connection with the registration of a marriage, after the dissolution of the marriage, continue to be called by this surname or to restore his maiden surname, if the corresponding request was made during the filing of the lawsuit for dissolution of marriage. The right to choose a surname according to the legislation of EU countries can be exercised both during the state registration of marriage and during marriage or its dissolution. At the same time, German legislation also determines the procedure for using the married surname for widowed spouses. Hungarian legislation separately defines the procedure for exercising the right to choose a surname by a woman and separately by a man, and also allows the prohibition of the use of a married surname by former spouses, if he was sentenced to imprisonment for an intentional crime, provided that the other former spouse objects to this.