Presently, an increasing number of couples enter into a prenuptial agreement. Are you aware of its purpose and of what it may contain?
Presently, an increasing number of couples enter into a prenuptial agreement. Are you aware of its purpose and of what it may contain?
The Czech law doesn’t actually recognize the term prenuptial agreement; nonetheless, it’s commonly used to regulate the future property regime of the betrothed. In a prenuptial agreement, the partners can negotiate whether they will have matrimonial property after the wedding, what will be a part of it, or whether they will keep their property separate. A prenuptial agreement only concerns property and cannot appoint, e.g., which parent will have sole custody of the children after the eventual divorce, or how much child support the other parent will pay.
Tip: To marry or not? What are the legal differences between marriage and cohabitation?
As far as property is concerned, two regimes exist:
Matrimonial property, also referred to as marital property or community property – any married couple who didn’t sign a prenuptial agreement prior to the wedding automatically enters into this regime upon marriage. Any property they acquire after the wedding (for example, anything they buy separately or together) falls under marital property, as do debts. However, several exceptions exist:
As mentioned, the prenuptial agreement modifies the property regime of a married couple. It comes in four variants:
The last two variants allow the couple to exclude from or include something to their matrimonial property. i.e., the community property may be reduced or extended. To illustrate, if one of the couple purchases a house before the wedding and the other intends to invest money in it during the marriage, they may agree that the house will count as marital property.
Your Attorneys Online advise: We recommend a prenuptial agreement to any person who isn’t well-informed about their future spouse’s financial situation or suspect they may be indebted, as well as to those who have children from their previous relationship. In practice, we frequently encounter clients who merely wish to sign a prenuptial agreement because they want to handle their property and finances in a way that circumvents the law.
Or are you already married and seek to separate your property? We’re prepared to answer any questions about prenuptial or postnuptial agreements.
As the prenuptial agreement comes in the form of a notarial record, visiting a notary before the wedding is necessary. It doesn’t matter whether you sign it a year or a week before the wedding, as the agreement comes into force on the day of the marriage.
You may ask the notary to add your agreement to the List of Matrimonial Property Agreements. It’s optional, but might prove itself useful – you won’t need to provide an agreement for each loan or distraint. Both the bank and bailiff must be familiar with the information on the List. For example, if you eliminate your matrimonial property and your spouse comes under distraint, the bailiff must check whether your agreement is on the List.
Yes, it’s then called a postnuptial agreement. Bear in mind, however, that it’s always valid from the date in the document, i.e., it may not be back-dated to exclude the spouse’s debts from marital property. If the debts were incurred prior to the agreement, they count as community property.
The previous paragraph brought us conveniently to the main reason for entering into a prenuptial agreement. Some people who have gone through a divorce want to prevent disputes over property and therefore opt for a separate property regime to gain more independence and to make the eventual divorce settlement smoother.
Others seek to preserve their property for the children from their previous marriage. Truthfully though, most betrothed couples sign a prenuptial agreement to protect themselves from the debts of their future spouse. Especially if one of the couple is already indebted or intends to start a business, it’s highly advisable for them to enter into a prenuptial agreement, thus protecting their spouse from the bailiff.
On the other hand, a prenuptial agreement may seem unimportant when neither of the engaged couple owns much property (or doesn’t mind sharing it) and neither intends to start a risky business or take a large loan.
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