Community property consists of things that are acquired by the spouses during their marriage and are jointly owned by them.
Services for individuals
Division of matrimonial community property (undivided co-ownership)
Fields of expertise
Drawing up a legal analysis of what the community property consists of
Extrajudicial division of community property
Drafting of an application to the court for the division of community property
Representation in judicial proceedings in the division of community property
Everything you need to know
How is community property divided up?
Under Slovak law, there are three ways to divide community property:
- Agreement
If community property is divided by agreement, the law requires a confirmation of the division which is prepared by the spouses at the request of one of the spouses. Because the spouses are legally entitled to this, they can seek a court order to compel the other party to comply. There is no prescribed form of agreement for personal property, but the law requires a written agreement for real property. - Court decision
This method of dividing community property is applied in cases where an agreement to divide the property cannot be reached within the time period before the legal fiction of a settlement arises. This method must be initiated by an application submitted by one of the spouses, but the court is not required to divide the community property according to the application; this is termed iudicium duplex, where the parties are considered equal. All the community property must be divided, and the court must therefore examine what is included in that community property. Debts and amounts receivable are divided proportionately. - Expiry of time limit
If community property is not divided by agreement or by a court decision following the application of one of the spouses within three years after the divorce (the termination of the matrimonial property regime), it is presumed that the spouses divided the personal property based on which spouse solely uses any particular personal property for their own needs or for the needs of family and household. The spouses are considered to have divided co-ownership (equal proportions) of all remaining personal property and real property. The same applies proportionately to other property rights held jointly by the spouses.
What does matrimonial community property not include?
- assets acquired by inheritance
- assets acquired as a gift
- assets that by their nature are only used for the personal needs or for the profession of one of the spouses
- assets returned to one spouse under property restitution regulations which were owned by that spouse prior to the marriage or which were received by that spouse by virtue of being the legal successor of the original owner