All married or civil union couples are subject to the rules of family patrimony, except for those who voluntarily excluded themselves in 1990, regardless of the matrimonial regime they have chosen.
All married or civilly united couples are subject to the rules of family patrimony, except those who voluntarily excluded themselves in 1990, regardless of the matrimonial regime they have chosen.
A married couple stops living under the same roof. Six years pass before the husband addresses the Court to obtain a divorce. He requests that the net value of the family patrimony be established not at the date of filing the application, but at the time when he and his wife ceased to live together.
The Court of Appeal* emphasizes that "when spouses separate without making their new status known through a judicial decision, it can become unfair for the assets accumulated by one party after the separation to continue to increase for the benefit of the other". Judicial intervention is the only way to determine the date on which the net value of the family patrimony must be established. For the Court to agree that the value of the patrimony be established at the cessation of cohabitation, the interruption of the common life "must be irrevocable and total, and the spouses must not postpone clauses of a more definitive nature" by pretending that the separation is for therapeutic purposes or to reassess their marital life.
Why postpone until tomorrow what can be done today?
* C.A. 200-09-003816-011, 2002-06-13
