In the marital life community, the property of the spouses can be divided into joint property and separate property, depending on the time and manner of acquisition.
Joint property of spouses, or marital property, includes all movable and immovable property acquired by the spouses or common-law partners through work during the duration of the marital or common-law life community. Additionally, joint property also includes property acquired through gambling during the marital or common-law life community. This is a rebuttable legal presumption, meaning such property will not be considered joint if the spouse who won the gambling proves that they invested their separate property in the gambling. Also, property acquired through the use of intellectual property rights during the life community is considered marital property.
Separate property of spouses includes everything each spouse owned before entering the marriage, as well as everything acquired during the marital or common-law life community through inheritance or gifts, income from separate property, and property belonging to each spouse after the division of joint property. The practical significance of distinguishing between joint and separate property appears in matters of property management. Spouses or common-law partners manage and dispose of joint property together and by mutual agreement. Each spouse has a share in the joint property which is not specifically determined, and there is a legal presumption that the spouses’ shares in the joint property are equal. Of course, this is a rebuttable legal presumption, and if a spouse believes their contribution to increasing the joint property is greater than that of the other spouse, they must prove it in court. If unsuccessful, it is presumed that the shares are equal. On the other hand, each spouse independently and fully manages and disposes of the property that constitutes their separate property, without any participation or consent from the other spouse.
Identification of joint property is also important regarding spouses’ responsibility for obligations toward third parties. For obligations that legally burden both spouses, as well as obligations assumed to meet the needs of marital life, spouses are jointly liable with both their joint and separate property. Regarding individual obligations of one spouse, that spouse is liable with their separate property as well as their share of the joint property.