High-net-worth divorce in the Netherlands: assets, business and cross-border rules

A high-net-worth divorce in the Netherlands is decided under Book 1 of the Burgerlijk Wetboek, but three questions determine the financial outcome that ordinary cases rarely raise: which matrimonial property regime applies, what the business interests and pension entitlements are worth, and which country’s law governs the division. Business valuations, real estate portfolios, assets held abroad and pension rights shift the result as much as the underlying facts do. This article sets out the framework and shows where the disputes actually arise.

The Dutch legal framework for high-asset divorce

High-net-worth divorce in the Netherlands is governed by Book 1 of the Burgerlijk Wetboek and, where international elements are present, by EU Regulation 2016/1103 on matrimonial property regimes and the Rome III Regulation on applicable divorce law. Two variables define the asset division framework in every case: when the parties married, and whether they entered into a prenuptial agreement (huwelijkse voorwaarden).

The 2018 shift: from full to limited community of property

The reform of 1 January 2018 is the most consequential change in Dutch marital property law in decades, and it still decides which assets are on the table in a high-asset divorce.

Before 1 January 2018, Dutch law defaulted to full community of property (algehele gemeenschap van goederen). Everything either spouse owned, including assets brought into the marriage and inheritances or gifts received during it, became joint marital property, unless the testator or donor had attached an exclusion clause (uitsluitingsclausule) to the inheritance or gift.

For marriages entered into on or after 1 January 2018 the default is limited community of property (beperkte gemeenschap van goederen). Only what the spouses build up during the marriage falls into the community; pre-marital property stays private, and inheritances and gifts are excluded by operation of law under article 1:94 of the Burgerlijk Wetboek. The exclusion holds only as far as it can be traced, which is why documentation of what existed before the wedding is decisive.

For couples married under the old regime with substantial pre-marital wealth, inherited assets, or long-standing business interests, the division calculation is particularly complex. Documentation of what existed before the marriage is often contested, and forensic tracing analysis is frequently required.

Business interests in divorce: the DGA problem

For entrepreneurs who hold their business through a besloten vennootschap (BV), divorce triggers a set of questions that go well beyond standard asset division. These cases require a family law specialist and a corporate lawyer working from the same file, because the valuation question and the matrimonial property question cannot sensibly be answered in isolation from one another.

Share valuation

Where BV shares form part of the marital estate, they must be valued as part of the division. Dutch courts apply recognised business valuation methodologies – typically the discounted cash flow method or comparable transaction analysis – but the parties frequently dispute both the methodology and its inputs. Expert valuators are routinely engaged, and their reports become the financial core of the dispute.

The DGA structure and marital assets

A directeur-grootaandeelhouder (DGA) who holds shares in their own BV faces several overlapping questions in a divorce:

• Are the BV shares part of the marital community under the applicable property regime?
• What is the fair market value of the shares, and which valuation methodology applies?
• Does the BV hold assets or liabilities that materially affect that valuation?
• Is the non-owning spouse entitled to a share of enterprise value or only of net asset value?
• Are there shareholder agreements that restrict transferability of the shares?

Pension rights in the DGA structure

Many DGAs accumulated pension entitlements inside their BV (pensioen in eigen beheer) before the 2017 legislation phased out further in-company pension accrual. The treatment of these historic pension rights in divorce proceedings is a specialist area within an already specialist area, and requires careful coordination between family law and corporate expertise.

Real estate and investment portfolios

High-asset divorces frequently involve significant real estate holdings: private residences, investment properties, and rental portfolios. Each property requires formal valuation by a certified appraiser (taxateur), assessment of mortgage liabilities and their attribution, and a decision on allocation – one party buying out the other, or a forced sale through the court.

For investment portfolios, the central question is whether gains accumulated during the marriage are joint property or whether they trace back to excluded pre-marital assets. Detailed transaction histories and professional tracing analysis are often indispensable in high-asset cases.

Pension division under Dutch law

Old-age pension accrued during the marriage is equalised under the Wet verevening pensioenrechten bij scheiding (WVPS): each spouse is entitled to half of the retirement pension the other built up between the wedding and the divorce. Equalisation is not automatic in the practical sense. If the pension provider is notified on the statutory form within two years of the divorce being registered, it pays the equalised share directly to the former spouse; after that period the entitlement remains, but it has to be settled between the spouses themselves. Spouses can deviate from equal division, or opt for conversion (conversie) into an independent pension right, by prenuptial agreement or in the divorce settlement, and in high-asset cases that trade-off is usually made against other assets. Special partner pension is governed by the Pensioenwet rather than the WVPS and follows its own rules.

A bill that would replace equalisation with conversion as the statutory default, the Wet pensioenverdeling bij scheiding 2022, has been pending before the Tweede Kamer since 2019 and its intended commencement date has been postponed more than once. It has not been enacted, so the WVPS applies in full to divorces filed now. Pension accrued inside a BV before the Wet uitfasering pensioen in eigen beheer closed that route in 2017 also falls under the WVPS, but the payment of an equalised share out of the company raises solvency and dividend questions that a standard pension provider never faces.

Cross-border complications: international high-net-worth divorce

For internationally mobile couples – expats in the Netherlands, Dutch nationals with assets abroad, or binational couples – divorce involves layers of international private law that standard cases do not require. Each of the following frameworks applies independently and must be assessed at the outset of proceedings.

Applicable law: Rome III regulation

The Rome III Regulation (EU 1259/2010) determines which country’s family law governs the divorce itself. Spouses can choose applicable law from a defined set of options; without a choice of law clause, the regulation applies a hierarchy of connecting factors. For most couples habitually resident in the Netherlands, Dutch law applies – but this is not automatic in all cases, and the consequences of a wrong assumption are serious.

Matrimonial property regime: EU Regulation 2016/1103

The division of assets is governed separately from the divorce itself. For couples married on or after 29 January 2019 with an international element, EU Regulation 2016/1103 directly determines which country’s matrimonial property law applies to the asset division. This may differ from the law governing the divorce.

Jurisdiction: Brussels IIb

Jurisdiction over divorce proceedings in EU member states is governed by Brussels IIb (EU 2019/1111), which came into force in August 2022. This regulation also governs the recognition and enforcement of divorce judgments and parental responsibility decisions across EU member states.

Assets in multiple jurisdictions

Where assets are spread over several countries, the division becomes a multi-jurisdictional exercise. A Dutch judgment does not reach every asset by itself: recognition or enforcement proceedings abroad are sometimes needed, and the sequence in which claims are brought can matter more than their merits. A separate complication arises where one spouse cannot be located, for which Dutch law provides its own route to divorce from an absent spouse.

Cross-border child matters

For couples whose children have lived in multiple countries, parental authority and residency arrangements engage both Dutch domestic law and international conventions – primarily the 1996 Hague Child Protection Convention and, where relevant, the 1980 Hague Abduction Convention. These frameworks interact with Brussels IIb and must be handled by a lawyer with specific international family law experience.

Alimony in high-asset cases

Partner alimony (partneralimentatie) turns on need (behoefte) and capacity to pay (draagkracht). The Tremanormen, the guidelines drawn up by the family law judges, provide the calculation method, but the courts retain discretion where the standard income-based calculation does not reflect the standard of living the couple actually enjoyed. Since the Wet herziening partneralimentatie took effect on 1 January 2020, the maximum duration is half the length of the marriage with a ceiling of five years, subject to statutory exceptions for marriages of more than fifteen years where the recipient is close to state pension age and for households with young children. Disputes in high-asset cases typically arise around:

• The attribution of investment returns as “income” for alimony purposes.
• Imputed income from business interests and DGA structures.
• The duration of alimony obligations in long marriages with significant wealth disparity.
• The interaction between alimony and asset division in an overall settlement.

How Law & More approaches high-net-worth divorce

Law & More is a Dutch law firm with offices in Eindhoven and Amsterdam. Our family law team advises on complex divorce in Dutch and English, and works with the firm’s corporate lawyers on cases involving BV structures, DGA shareholdings and business valuation. We act in:

• Asset division in high-net-worth divorce, including real estate and investment portfolios.
• BV share valuation and DGA structures in the context of marital property division.
• International divorce cases applying Rome III, EU 2016/1103, and Brussels IIb.
• Pension division under the WVPS and for DGA pension arrangements.
• Partner alimony in complex income structures, including DGA salary and equity components.
• Cross-border parental authority and residence arrangements for children.
• Divorce settlement and mediation as an alternative to contested court proceedings.

The value of an early assessment is that it fixes the questions that later become expensive: which regime applies, what has to be traced back to before the marriage, and which court has jurisdiction. If your divorce involves a business, foreign assets or a prenuptial agreement whose scope is unclear, contact us to discuss your position. Our article on the cost of a divorce in the Netherlands explains how those proceedings are funded.

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