Marital Property Regime
Foreign people getting married in Spain have the option to regulate the relationship between the spouses in accordance with Spanish marriage law.
Next, we will talk about one of the most important issues regarding getting married, which is how to manage the property of both parties. In Spanish marriage law, there are two mian systems or regime for managing a couple’s property: the community of property (comunidad de ganaciales) after marriage and the division of property or property separation (separación de bienes) .
Community of property
Under this regime, all property, rights or income acquired by one party during marriage is jointly owned. Some exceptions may apply, such us income from donation or inheritance. Each spouse owns one half of the commonly owned property. In case of divorce, each spouse is entitled to the 50% of this community property.
The assets acquired during the marriage (including fruits, outputs or profits) are considered jointly owned.
Separate Property
According to the Separate Property Regime (Separación de Bienes), each spouse owns the property acquired before and during the marriage. As general rule, there is no jointly owned property. Nevertheless, in case of doubt on to which of the spouses an asset or right belong, it shall be considered as jointly owned.
The spouses will jointly pay the costs to support the family according to their respective income.
How can I choose a property management system?
Under the Spanish Civil Code, the default system is community of property regime, which means that if no declaration is made at the time of the marriage, the choice of community property is made by default.
Note: Some regions, such as Catalonia, have a division of property as a default.
If the spouses wish to opt for a division of property, there are three ways to do so:
A marriage contract, can be signed at the moment of registration of the marriage.
It can also be signed before the marriage is registered. It can then be done at any notary’s office, and both parties only need to bring their residence card or ID card with them. The notary usually has a written template. Unless the couple has a specific agreement to stipulate, the notary’s template may be very useful.
It is also possible to turn the property management system into a division of property after the marriage if, say, the parties are already registered as married. At that time, as described above, it is simply necessary to go to a notary to sign the Marriage Contract.
