Matrimonial property law

A notarized prenuptial agreement can modify the statutory property regime of the community of accrued gains or change it to a different statutory property regime.

In addition to the community of accrued gains, there are also the property regimes of the separation of property and the joint property. The key characteristic of the community of accrued gains is that when the community of accrued gains is terminated (divorce, death of a spouse, change to a different property regime), a reconciliation of the community of accrued gains has to take place. Upon termination of the community of accrued gains due to death, the surviving spouse will obtain, in addition to his/her legal share of the inheritance, flat-rate compensation in the amount of one-fourth of the inheritance, regardless of whether the gains are higher or lower or if there even are gains. However, the gains must be concretely calculated in the event of divorce. It is not rare for compensatory claims to result in the home having to be sold or a company being broken up. A notarized prenuptial agreement can prevent such sometimes destructive disputes. Our notaries comprehensively counsel spouses in marital property law and certify marital property law solutions.