Marriage contracts

Marriages are entered for life – but one third ends in divorce. In many cases, however, the legal rules governing divorce do not fit; the most frequent cases of unbalanced results are equalisation of accrued gains and the obligation to pay alimony, for example when a spouse brings or builds up special assets into the marriage. A well-thought-out marriage contract avoids unwanted property shifts in the event of divorce and still retains the tax advantages in the event of inheritance. It must be balanced in principle, otherwise a court could judge it as invalid.
A marriage contract is comparable to a term life insurance policy. It is preferable to conclude it before or directly at the beginning of the marriage. There are only advantages to a fair and prudently drafted marriage contract: In such a contract, the spouses can regulate all the necessary points and design them themselves – and thus avoid a possible war of roses in the event of a divorce. In a marriage contract, at least the following points should be regulated:

• Which matrimonial property regime do the spouses want to choose: simple or modified community of gain or separation of property?
• The partners should draw up a list of assets at the time of marriage.
• What should the post-marital spousal support look like after a divorce?
• Should there be a pension settlement after a divorce in which each partner receives half of the other’s pension entitlements?