What You Should Know About Marriage Agreements

Marriage is one of the most important institutions for people, and it is not surprising since it implies joining your life to that of another person, in order to share practically all your life with him or the chosen one. And although everything promises to improve over time, there are some situations that come out of the utopian, so we must be ready to face some tense situations between both parties with procedures as simple as those marriage contract.

One of the aspects that is usually treated as one of the least important is the family economy, and it is that although at the beginning everything seems that there will never be problems, money does become one of the main causes of lawsuits, that is why before choosing to unite our life with someone else we think about the rules that both We must continue in the economic sphere so that everything goes well, for this there are marriage agreements, Let's talk about what these are and when they apply.

What are capitulations and what types are there?

The first thing we must understand is that it is the economic regime of a marriage; This is the way in which they plan to manage the economic assets of a couple; These regimes, or rules, are the ones that will dictate what happens to the assets accumulated by the marriage in the event that there is any dispute regarding this issue. In this way we can say that the capitulations with regimes that establish the bases with which the economic issue in marriage will be handled, let's see more of these capitulations.

Community property

There are basically two types of marriage agreements, and these are the community property regime, and property separation regime. In the first regime we will find a general guideline, and that is that the wealth that both spouses generate once married, automatically becomes the property of both people, so that as a general rule there is no talk of "mine" or "yours ”But an“ ours ”.

This regime applies to both physical assets and money itself, so that if the married couple, or a member, acquires a house or a vehicle, legally it already belongs to the marriage, not just to a member.

Separation of Property

The second regime, of Separation of Property, It has the peculiarity that the wealth generated by each spouse remains as personal property, so that, if the woman or the man takes a house or car, it remains theirs, despite the fact that physically both live in the same house or share the car.

This type of regimen allows the couple to independently manage the result of each one's effort. It is very important that we stop to think which of the two regimes is the best for us given our own needs and desires. But since it is a legal fact, it is very important that we think about it and meditate clearly.

Marriage agreements as an official legal document

An important issue is that matrimonial agreements are a contract issued by a notaryIn other words, the rules are printed, and both members of the marriage must agree to sign the document.

This is very important to consider because the fact that it is a contract gives it a legal weight that will defend the right of each member of the marriage. This indicates that in the event that one of the two spouses violates any of the stipulated and accepted rules, the other spouse can even legally sue his partner.

Things we should know about capitulations

Now, we already mentioned that Marriage agreements are issued by a notary. Now we must know that the document in which these capitulations are stipulated has a name, and it is the deed; This is the document that we will have to collect once the process with the notary has finished. It is important that we know what document we will have in order to make valid all the marriage rules that were accepted.

Then then we must clarify that the marriage agreements are an agreement between both people, but When are these capitulations decided? The answer is very simple, and it is that these agreements can be carried out from before the marriage is formalized or even after it has been carried out, the only legal requirements that the law requires is that both conjugates agree and that they go with a notary to receive the advice and that the deed is issued, the legal document that endorses the capitulations. It is extremely important to consider that this legal document must be registered in the civil registry so that it can be valid in the marriage.

When is a marriage capitulation performed?

Something that must be clarified regarding the time in which the capitulations are decided, is that, if they are decided before formalize the marriage, the capitulations become valid only after the signing of the marriage document.

So the regimen they selected will be applied once the wedding has taken place; So if you are thinking of getting married and signing the capitulations before the wedding, take into account that after the signing of the capitulations there is only one exact year to be able to carry out the wedding; otherwise, the capitulations are invalidated, and in case the procedure is not carried out again, if the wedding takes place then the selected capitulations will not be valid.

Now when both conjugates want change capitulation once married, this document must also be processed by the notary, but with the advantage that the effects of the signing of the agreement will begin to have immediate validity after signing the document. Now, here it is extremely important that before making the decision to change the regime, you carefully consider the objectives of changing the type of capitulation. Well, although the change can be made indefinitely, this does require investment of money and time, so it is best and most recommended that we make the decision from the beginning, and if you want to change, that the reasons are valid and solid.

Another important point that we must bear in mind is that once any procedure or external commitment is carried out, such as being creditors for a loan, it will not be affected if during the validity of said event any change is made in the marriage agreements. For this reason, we must consider our type of regime at the moment in which we compromise "our" patrimony or "my" patrimony. It is undoubtedly one of the most important points that we can consider to avoid any disagreement or misunderstanding with third parties.

Specifications in the capitulations

Some of the more specific points that can be agree in the capitulations is whether to include inheritances, donations from parents to spouses, or other types of income that are not due to the husband or wife's own work. In such a way that one decides if that extra income is counted within the marriage or as a personal asset.

Other inclusions that are made are the clarifications regarding the rules of coexistence, that is, the treatment that will be given to the money in case of being shared, as well as the criteria under which they should make their decisions. There are also sections that tell us about the pacts in the event of a marriage crisis.

This is one of the most interesting and important points for many people, this is because, although we never marry the idea of ​​divorcing in the future, the truth is that today separations are very common, so that a setting of norms on that subject would help a lot to know how to act and how distribute the assets in the event of a separation.

Let us consider that the cost of the procedure is on average 60 euros, a not so high cost, but that if we do not plan it well, it can increase when we carry out the procedure several times as we are not satisfied with our decision. Although we can skip this procedure, it is advisable to do it, since this way we can be sure that in any situation that arises there are already established rules regarding how to act in relation to one of the most delicate issues, money.

Consider this

As a last reminder we will say that although there are some agreements and contracts that can be done without the need to go to a notary to carry out the procedure, it is not applicable to marriage agreements, so if we decide to skip this step, the document will not be valid even if both members agree with the terms that are specified in the document, so that if one of both wants to make the document legally valid this will not be possible; So even if it has a cost, it is best to carry out the procedure in an orderly manner under the guidance of a notary, in order to be more calm in relation to our status.