According to the Family Code (“FC”), the property regimes between spouses are as follows:
- statutory community regime,
- the legal regime of separation and
- a contractual regime (marriage agreement)
The FC provides that the statutory community regime applies where the spouses have not opted for a separation regime or have not signed a marriage agreement at the time of marriage.
However, the spouses may subsequently change the property regime at any time during the marriage. The most common change in practice is the change from a legal community regime to a separation or contractual regime. When changing to a contractual regime, the spouses must sign a marriage agreement.
The change of the regime should be registered both in the civil marriage certificate and in the Register of Property Relations between the spouses (“RPRS”) of the Registry Agency.
The following documents are required:
- A request to record the change of the property regime;
- Joint declaration of the spouses on the choice of the separation regime with notarized signatures/Signed marriage agreement;
- Explicit notarized power of attorney;
- Proof of paid fee
The documents shall be submitted to the municipality where the civil marriage was concluded.
Once the change is reflected in the civil marriage certificate, the registration official shall immediately send a notification to the Registry Agency to register the new regime in the RPRS.