💰 Equalisation of accrued gains (Zugewinnausgleich)
In brief
If you have not concluded a marriage contract, you automatically live under the statutory matrimonial property regime of the community of accrued gains (§ 1363 BGB). This does not mean that your assets automatically belong jointly during the marriage – each keeps their own assets. On divorce, however, a comparison is made of how much each spouse's assets grew during the marriage (accrued gains); whoever gained more must pay half of the difference to the other (equalisation claim, § 1378 BGB).
To calculate the accrued gains, each spouse must provide information on their assets at several cut-off dates: at the wedding (initial assets), at separation (on request) and at service of the divorce petition or at the end of the marriage (final assets) (§ 1379 BGB).
Step by step
- Draw up an overview of assetsList your assets at the date of separation – accounts, property, securities, debts.
- Demand informationYou can demand information from the other spouse on their assets at the date of separation and at the time of service of the divorce petition (§ 1379 BGB).
- Determine initial assetsClarify which assets existed at the wedding – debts also count and may be carried forward.
- Have the accrued gains calculatedThe difference between initial and final assets gives each spouse's accrued gains; half of the difference between the two accrued gains is the equalisation claim.
- Agreement or lawsuitSettle out of court or have the equalisation claim decided by the court as an ancillary matter in the divorce joint proceedings or separately.
Deadlines
- Assets given away or concealed shortly before the separation can be added back to the final assets as a "disloyal reduction of assets" (§ 1375 Abs. 2 BGB).
- Equalisation of accrued gains is independent of pension rights equalisation – both equalisation systems run in parallel and concern different assets.
- Do not wait too long to assert it – the equalisation claim becomes time-barred like an ordinary monetary claim.
- An owner-occupied family home also counts in principle as part of the assets and is included in the calculation, regardless of who stays living there.
In depth · legal basis, figures and practice – for advisers and professionals
Statutory matrimonial property regime
Without a marriage contract the community of accrued gains applies (§ 1363 BGB): the spouses' assets remain legally separate during the marriage, but are compared arithmetically at the end of the marriage. Alternative matrimonial property regimes (separation of property, community of property) must be agreed by notarial deed.
Calculation under § 1378 BGB
If one spouse's accrued gains exceed the other's, the other spouse is entitled to half of the surplus as an equalisation claim (§ 1378 Abs. 1 BGB). The accrued gains are the amount by which a spouse's final assets exceed their initial assets (§ 1373 BGB); increases in assets through inheritance or gift during the marriage are added to the initial assets, so that in principle they do not become subject to equalisation (§ 1374 Abs. 2 BGB).
Right to information (§ 1379 BGB)
Since the matrimonial property law reform of 2009, each spouse can demand information on the other's assets at the date of separation as soon as they live separately – not only on the final assets at service of the divorce petition. This makes it harder to put assets aside between separation and the divorce petition, because both cut-off dates are known and comparable.
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