Our practical sheets

Our practical sheets

Buying without being divorced yet

Buy a property at two

Your divorce is not yet finalized? You want to buy a property and you want it to belong to you personally. But, depending on your matrimonial regime and the way you finance your acquisition, you run the risk of seeing the property enter the community.

If you are married under a regime of separation of property, the property that you buy and finance yourself will belong to you. However, make sure that your marriage contract does not provide for a partnership of acquests into which the property would enter.

If you are married under a community regime and you finance the property with money that belongs to you, the property does not enter the community.

Note: in a community property regime, your earnings and salaries are part of the community. The same applies to income from property belonging to only one spouse.

If you are married under the community regime, and you finance the property with common money or a loan, the property enters the community. You will not know what will happen to it until the divorce.

In the relationship between the spouses, and as regards their property, the divorce takes effect :

  • - when it is pronounced by mutual consent: on the date on which the agreement signed by each of the spouses is filed with the notary, or on the date set by the spouses in the agreement.
  • - when it is pronounced judicially: on the date of the order of non-conciliation, issued by the judge. If requested, the judge may set the effects of the divorce
  • at the date on which they ceased to cohabit.

Thus, if the property is purchased before the date on which the divorce takes effect, the property will be joint. If it is purchased after the date on which the divorce takes effect, it will belong only to the spouse concerned.

Note: it is useful to approach your lawyer so that he or she can take into account your desire to purchase and thus secure your purchase in the context of the ongoing divorce proceedings.