Entrepreneur marriage

There are no special legal provisions for the case of the failure of a business marriage. Every entrepreneur should therefore think about the special protection of the company in case of divorce already when getting married. The reason for this is that in the case of divorce, if the legal matrimonial property regime of the community of gain has remained unchanged, the spouse who is not an entrepreneur can apply for a gain equalisation procedure. The increase in value of the company during the marriage is then compensated within the framework of the equalisation of gains. In the worst case, this can lead to the liquidation of the company, as the entrepreneurial spouse must satisfy claims for equalisation of gains immediately after the decision becomes final and in full.
It is urgently recommended that the company to be protected be excluded from the equalization of capital gains.
Nowadays, this is preferably done by way of a modified joint profit sharing scheme.Therefore, the standard recommendation for every entrepreneur is: no marriage without a marriage contract. 

Modified joint property is a combination of the matrimonial property regime of joint property and separation of property. Within the framework of the so-called modified community of gains, it is possible to completely exclude the compensation for gains – in the event of divorce – or to modify it in such a way that it is limited to private assets only. The non-entrepreneur – spouse should then be protected in another way.

In the event of inheritance, however, the surviving non-entrepreneurial spouse can be entitled to the increased share of the inheritance (including the company) and the claim to compensation for capital gains, which is exempt from inheritance tax.

The agreement of the modified joint profit-sharing arrangement must be notarised in the form of a marriage contract.

Round Table

We rightly talk about these topics in our Round Table meetings. The Round Table is an action of Herfurth & Partner and serves to clarify and secure wishes and decisions in the family in connection with assets, provision and succession.

The next dates can be found in the Round Table section (welcome homepage).

Publications

Further information on many topics can be found in the Publications section (welcome homepage).

Your counsellor

Angelika Herfurth

Attorney at law and specialist lawyer for family law

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