Community of property is the statutory matrimonial property regime in the Netherlands: what falls into the community belongs to both spouses jointly and is divided equally on divorce. Since 1 January 2018 that community is limited rather than universal.
Legal basis and what falls inside
The regime is set out in Book 1, Title 7 of the Dutch Civil Code. For marriages entered into on or after 1 January 2018, the community covers what the spouses acquire during the marriage and what they already owned jointly beforehand. Assets and debts each spouse held privately before the marriage stay private, as do gifts and inheritances received during the marriage, whether or not an exclusion clause was made.
Marriages entered into before 2018 remain under the old universal community unless the spouses changed it, which means practically everything is shared, including pre-marital assets and inheritances without an exclusion clause.
Administration and debts
Each spouse administers the assets they brought in, and jointly acquired assets are administered together. Creditors of a community debt can recover from the whole community. For a private debt of one spouse, recovery against community assets is possible but the other spouse can limit it, and certain everyday household debts bind both spouses under Article 1:85 regardless of the regime.
Division on divorce
On divorce the community is dissolved and divided in equal halves. Reimbursement claims arise where private money was used for a community asset or the reverse, calculated in principle on the economic development of the asset rather than the nominal amount. Careful record-keeping of what came from where is therefore worth more than most people expect.
Where it goes wrong
The recurring problem is documentation. A spouse who paid a deposit on the house from a pre-marital account, or from an inheritance, has a reimbursement claim only if it can be traced. Bank statements older than seven years are frequently gone, and the claim disappears with them.
Related terms
See also prenuptial agreement, joint divorce petition and spousal maintenance.
Our family lawyers in the Netherlands advise on division and reimbursement claims.
