CHILDREN.--Marriage of the parents subsequent to their birth renders illegitimate children fully legitimate. ANNULMENT OF MARRIAGE.--A marriage may be declared null by a decree of a court of competent jurisdiction whenever it appears that some essential qualification to make the marriage valid was absent at the time it was concluded, or if it appears that the marriage was concluded in disregard of the impediments stated by law. ABSOLUTE DIVORCE.--A complete divorce from the marriage bond is allowed by the courts for the following causes: 1. Adultery of either party. 2. Attempt by either spouse to kill the other. 3. The concealment by one spouse of information concerning a plot to kill the other spouse. 4. Penal servitude incurred by either spouse, under a sentence of at least eight years. 5. Apostasy from the Christian religion. 6. Deliberate desertion persisted in for three years. 7. Flight from Servia followed by absence of at least four years. 8. Absence without news for six years. A decree of divorce or a decree annulling a marriage must always be submitted for the approval or disapproval of the ecclesiastical courts. EFFECTS OF DIVORCEMENT.--The innocent party to a divorce suit may contract a new marriage, but the guilty party is forbidden to remarry during the lifetime of the innocent party. Usually each party regains such goods and effects as he or she brought to the alliance. CUSTODY OF CHILDREN.--Boys under four years and girls under seven are given, as a rule, to the mother's custody. After that they are given to the custody of the father. The divorced woman must not continue to use the surname of her ex-husband. JUDICIAL SEPARATION.--A separation from bed and board may be granted by the court whenever the facts show such a decree to best promote the interests and well-being of the spouses. CHAPTER XXII BULGARIA. The national religion of the Bulgarian people is that of the Orthodox Greek Church, and consequently the laws of that church on the subject of marriage and divorce is part of the organic law of Bulgaria. Upon the political independence of the country the Bulgarian Church, which had hitherto been under the Patriarchate of Constantinople through an exarch, declared its independence and established the Bulgarian Exarchate. The ecclesiastical courts of this Exarchate have general jurisdiction of matrimonial causes except as concern Mohammedans, Jews, and Christians who are not adherents of any of the Eastern Orthodox churches. Besides the laws of the Church, Bulgaria has a national law of marriage and divorce dating from 1897. The matrimonial concerns of Mohammedans are governed by the law of the religion of Mohammed. Christians who are dissenters from the Orthodox Church are permitted to marry according to the rules and regulations of their sect. REQUIREMENTS FOR MARRIAGE.--The marriageable age for men begins with twenty years, and for women with eighteen years.