Settlement of marital property

The Supreme Court (SC) has resolved a very typical case in separations and divorces, which is what happens with a home that one of the spouses bought before getting married , but that was fully paid off during the marriage (when there was a marital property regime). The husband had purchased the home while single, but afterwards, when they were already married, payments continued to be made because the price was deferred and also a personal loan that had been used to pay part of that purchase was being repaid.

Initially, the court ruled that the home was 100% privately owned by the husband and did not even include it in the marital property inventory. However, the Provincial Court corrected this notion as it considered proven how much had been paid before and how much during the marriage , concluding that 56.35% of the price had been paid while married. As during the marriage, payments were made, it was established that the property had become part of the marital assets. presumes that money is marital property if not proven otherwise, the Court included that 56.35% of the house as marital property.

The SC agrees essentially because if the house ends up being family home , a special rule of the Civil Code applies and there may be a marital share in proportion to what was paid during the marriage, even if the purchase was made before and even if the financing comes from a loan. However, clarifies that the presumption of marital property cannot be applied automatically when payments are made from a shared account with third parties (here, the husband and his parents). In this case, in the absence of evidence of a different distribution, it is presumed that the money in the account belongs equally to its holders, and only the portion corresponding to the spouse can be presumed to be marital property.

With that correction, the TS reduces the percentage of gains when it declares gains only on 18.78% of the home (which is one third of what was paid during the marriage).