Limited community of property

You do hear it said that anyone who marries after 1 January 2018 automatically marries with prenuptial agreements. While marriages after that date no longer automatically involve the general community of property, this does not mean that there are automatic prenuptial agreements.

For marriages after 1 January, everything the spouses had before they got married remains private. This also applies to anything gifted or inherited. For many people, this fits well with what they want. Only there are also things that most people want to arrange differently. For example, a house to which the spouses were 30%-70% entitled prior to the marriage suddenly becomes 50%-50% property. A claim of one spouse against the other which arose because of the purchase of a common house suddenly evaporates by half.

When one of the spouses has a business outside the community, the other spouse does get a claim on the value of that business. Without this being properly regulated in prenuptial agreements, the extent of that entitlement cannot be determined until the end of the marriage.

For more information on the new matrimonial property law, please contact us. We will be happy to help.