Marriage is a very important step in life, but most of the time this decision is made based on emotions and feelings, downplaying legal and financial aspects, which brings with it future conflicts that can be avoided by having the necessary uncomfortable conversations to make conscious and convenient decisions for both members of the couple, in the modern and globalized era in which we live, where men and women develop professionally equally and where home and family care is increasingly recognized as work that contributes to the well-being and development of the family nucleus, it is important that people defend their position as to whether they want to share with their future spouse the fruits of their effort and work equally or not.
At the time of marriage there are two property regimes, on which couples must decide which one to apply in their marriage, we define each of these regimes below:
Marriage for separate assets: the regime of separation of assets is in which the spouses will retain ownership and administration of the assets that respectively belong to them, all the benefits and accessions of those assets.
Marriage for joint property: Also known as “Conjugal partnership regime or community of property regime” is in which the couple, upon getting married, establishes to share all their properties acquired from the marriage.
Each State of the Mexican Republic is legally governed by a State Civil Code and it contains all the laws that affect people and their assets, in the case of the State of Quintana Roo, the civil code establishes about the assets of the people who marry the following:
Art. 719 of the civil code of Q. Roo: People who are going to get married must state, in the act of celebrating it, if they want to get married under the regime of separation of property or by the community of the same, in the understanding that if they fail to do so, they will be considered married under the separation of property regime.
In other words, if the spouses do not express of their own free will what they want their system of administration and ownership of the assets acquired during the marriage to be, the regime of separation of assets will be tacitly established, this can be modified by the couple once they are married, by application before a family judge. In the same way, if the marriage is carried out under the conjugal partnership regime, it can be changed to separate assets with the same judicial procedure.
In the separation of property regime, the spouses retain ownership and administration of the assets that each one possesses before the marriage, as well as all the benefits that these assets generate once they are married. The wages, salaries, fees and profits obtained for personal services, for the performance of a job or for the exercise of a profession, trade or industry during the marriage will also belong to each of the spouses.
In the case of divorce of a married couple under the regime of separation of assets, the spouses may demand from the other, compensation of up to 50% of the value of the assets acquired during the marriage, provided that the applicant has dedicated himself in the period that the marriage lasted, mainly to the performance of household work and, where appropriate, the care of the children and that during the marriage, the plaintiff has not acquired his own assets or, having acquired them, they are notoriously less than those of his partner . The Family Judge will decide on the divorce decree, after analyzing each case. The spouse’s assets obtained by inheritance, donation or luck of fortune may not be considered for purposes of quantifying the compensation, even in cases in which they were received during the marriage.
The community of property or joint property regime consists of the formation and administration of a common patrimony during the marriage, different from the patrimonies of each of the spouses at the time of marriage, all the assets that the spouses acquire, jointly or separately. , after marriage and until the dissolution of the conjugal community, belong to it. The conjugal partnership has legal personality whose capacity arises from the celebration of the marriage and ends with its dissolution, or before, by agreement at the express request of the spouses or by a judicial decision. The administration of the conjugal community corresponds to both spouses and they can agree that one of them is the administrator, but without this giving them autonomy to dispose of the assets without the consent of the other.
In this regime, the assets owned by each spouse at the time of the marriage, and those owned before the marriage, also belong to each spouse. They are also assets of each spouse, the assets acquired as a result of a condition, whose fulfillment is carried out during the marriage, but stipulated before, the assets that during the marriage each spouse acquires by donation, fortune, inheritance or legacy constituted in favor of one only of them. In the same way, assets acquired with money from the sale or assignment of one of the spouses’ own assets prior to the marriage are their own, even if that negotiation is carried out during the marriage. If the marriage is dissolved, the conjugal partnership is dissolved and an inventory is made, which will not include ordinary clothing and objects for personal use of the spouses, any credits that may be owed against the community must be paid; The amount that led to the marriage will be returned to each spouse and the excess, if any, will be divided equally between the two.
As we can see, each conjugal regime presents different parameters in terms of the formation, possession and administration of the couple’s assets, none is better than another, but as we have already said, it is important to define the one that fits each couple by mutual decision and Not by legal imposition, the professionals at Anaya Legal Playa, as always, support you to guide you, analyze and help you decide what is the best alternative to safeguard your interests in the formation of a family.