Social support for combat veterans' families - will civil spouses receive benefits.

Benefits for combatants provide support not only to the servicemen themselves but also to their families. However, there are many nuances when it comes to civilian husbands or wives of defenders.

Nuances of obtaining benefits for Ukrainian civilians

Can civilian partners of servicemen expect benefits? This was explained on the website of the National Association of Lawyers of Ukraine.

Chairperson of the NAAL Committee on Family Law, Larysa Hretychenko, noted that the number of cases regarding cohabitation without marriage and challenging refusals to grant the status of a family member of the deceased is constantly increasing.

However, according to her, the Supreme Court has repeatedly confirmed that civil marriage does not grant the individuals involved the right to receive social guarantees provided for the families of servicemen.

As an example, Larysa Hretychenko cited a situation where a court refused to grant the status of a family member to a person who was not married at the Time of their partner’s death. The Supreme Court also emphasized that the law 'On the Status of War Veterans' does not provide for the application of the provisions of the Family Code to such situations.

Additionally, the Supreme Court in one of the cases expressed the position that the Law 'On the Status of War Veterans, Guarantees of Their Social Protection' does not include references to the application of the provisions of the Family Code of Ukraine to legal relations related to the granting of benefits and compensations to a group of persons in the event of a serviceman's death.

At the same time, the establishment of the fact of cohabitation with the deceased serviceman by a court decision may influence the emergence and cessation of certain civil rights and obligations, but it does not create grounds for acquiring the status of a family member to obtain guarantees provided for by the Law 'On the Status of War Veterans, Guarantees of Their Social Protection.'

'Thus, judicial practice has formed an approach whereby the establishment in court of the fact of a man and woman living together as a family without marriage and recognizing the participants as family members does not legitimize and cannot legalize the legal status of an unmarried couple as spouses', said Hretychenko.

Therefore, the establishment of the fact of cohabitation does not provide grounds for obtaining social guarantees, as the law recognizes marriage only after it is registered with the civil registry offices.

Additional information

Previously, we wrote about what benefits children of combat veterans may receive in July 2025.

Also, find out how Ukraine plans to expand the list of benefits for servicemen.

Ukrainian civilian partners of servicemen have limited opportunities to obtain benefits, as civil marriage does not provide rights to receive social guarantees provided for the families of servicemen. This can pose problems for many family partners of defenders who do not have an official marriage and are seeking legal protection in the event of a serviceman's death.