Marriage without a contract: Community scheme reduced to acquisitions

Verified 16 March 2023 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

You want to get married without signing a marriage contract? Your property will automatically be subject to the legal regime of the community reduced to acquisitions. The property you own before marriage remains your personal property. Your patrimony consists of own property, common property and debt. At the end of marriage, the commons are shared. You can change your matrimonial regimeunder certain conditions. We present you with the information you need to know.

It's a matrimonial regime.

If you get married without marriage contract, you are automatically subject to the rules of the legal community.

This is the community reduced to acquisitions.

FYI  

You have no no formalities to be completed in order to benefit from this scheme.

The community reduced to acquisitions distinguishes the following goods:

  • Property belonging to all 2 of you, each for half: we're talking about common goods
  • Property belonging only to one of you 2: we are talking about own property.

Your gains, i.e. goods furniture or real estate acquired by you 2, together or separately, for payment (we also say for consideration) during your marriage, are common goods.

These assets may be acquired by one of the following means:

  • Income from your work (regardless of the activity)
  • Savings on income from property owned by one of you 2.

If you are married, your patrimony consists of own property, common property and debt.

Own property

The following assets are own assets:

  • Good furniture or real estate owned by a spouse before marriage
  • Received By donation or succession (inheritance or bequest by will) by a single spouse during the marriage (unless the testator or the donor).

Other elements are also own property, including:

  • Personal clothing
  • Some debts and pensions, such as maintenance or invalidity pensions
  • Compensation for bodily or non-bodily harm suffered by a spouse
  • Certain professional goods necessary for the activity of one of the spouses.

The property you buy, during marriage, with money from an estate or from the sale of a clean property, is also a clean property. The origin of the money must be declared in the notarized purchase document.

Each of you manages and disposes of alone of its own property.

FYI  

If your family home is a clean property, the owner cannot dispose of it alone. He has to get the agreement of his spouse. This rule also applies to the furniture that decorates the family home.

Common property

All property is presumed common unless proven otherwise.

The following are common goods (non-exhaustive list):

  • Wages and professional income
  • Retirement pensions
  • Game Wins
  • Income from savings and investments.

For the common goods, each of you 2 can perform alone the administrative acts and acts of disposition.

However, your agreement at all 2 is required in certain cases, including the following:

  • Lease of a rural estate or a building for commercial, industrial or craft use
  • Sale, donation or provision of security (e.g. mortgage) on a building belonging to the two spouses.

FYI  

Each of you 2 manages and disposes of his earnings and wages alone, regardless of your marital status.

The obligation to repay debts varies depending on whether the assets are common or unique to a single spouse.

In order to preserve some of the property against the demands of creditors, it is up to you to prove that you own it.

The rules depend on the debts involved:

General case

As a husband, you must to contribute to the costs of marriage.

All debts that either of you 2 enters into commit you both 2 if they relate to one of the following obligations:

  • Household maintenance
  • Children's education.

Example :

Household maintenance or child-rearing expenses (non-exhaustive list) include:

  • Feeding
  • Water and electricity bills
  • Children's clothing and school fees.

Income tax also weighs on you 2.

However, if your spouse/spouse spends manifestly excessive amounts in relation to your household income, only he/she is engaged.

Warning  

In this case, the creditor can seize your common assets. But he can't seize your salary or your own property.

Debts prior to marriage

Debts owed by one of you before the wedding remain personal debts.

This is the case for the capital due, but also for the interest.

Borrowing and buying with payment staggered in time

All 2 of you are engaged only if all 2 of you have given your express consent.

If your spouse/husband does not agree, you only commit your own property and income.

Please note

The loan you take out for a small amount necessary for the needs of everyday life commits you both.

Bond

Commitment as surety applies to you 2 only if you have both given your express consent.

If your spouse/husband does not agree, you only commit your own property and income.

Common assets shall be shared in particular in the following cases:

We're talking about liquidation of the community.

You can freely change or modify your marital regime.

You must meet the following conditions:

  • Recourse to a notary
  • Respect for the family interest
  • Information to interested parties (in particular your adult children, your creditors).

Your change of diet is subject to type-approval of a court only if one of the following persons objects:

You must be assisted by a lawyer.

The lawyer shall submit a request to the court of the place of residence of the family, to your 2 names, to which is attached a copy of the notarial act.

Who shall I contact

Please note

The change or modification of the matrimonial regime is mentioned in the margin of the marriage certificate.