Financial and property claims
Specialisation in Family Law
We reorganise the family’s financial and property assets
In separation and divorce proceedings and in addition to making arrangements for the children of both partners, it also has to be decided whether the breakup means one of the spouses is entitled to alimony.
Likewise, depending on the property system under which they were married, particular alimony and settlement rights will be applicable.
Separation or divorce may have adversely affected the financial situation of one of the spouses during the marriage. In such cases, they can ask the other spouse for alimony to redress the balance. Here the law stipulates a number of aspects to be assessed including:
- The financial position of both spouses after the separation or divorce.
- Their age and state of health.
- Their past and future time commitment to the family.
- The length of the cohabitation.
- The foreseeable financial prospects of the spouses.
The alimony may be temporary, amended if there is a change in the circumstances assessed when it was fixed, or terminated if there are grounds for doing so, such as having a new partnership with another person.
The property system under which the couple were married will determine the type of settlement to be made.
Thus community of property will involve drawing up an inventory at the time of settlement and the allocation to the spouses on an equal footing (50%) of the assets and debts that make it up.
Meanwhile, under separate ownership of property and despite the fact that each spouse owns the assets they had at the time of the marriage and any acquired subsequently, a claim for an allowance from the other spouse may be made. This is possible in cases where at the end of the marriage, there is an increase in the spouse’s assets and it can be demonstrated that the spouse asking for the allowance has worked for the household and taken care of the children of both spouses substantially more than the other, or alternatively in the other spouse’s business without remuneration or with inadequate remuneration.
This kind of allowance is especially common in separate ownership of property in Catalonia, where it is specifically regulated and has special features compared to the separate ownership of property regulated in the Spanish Civil Code.
Separation or divorce also entails reorganisation of joint family assets in case of separate ownership of property.
When a breakup occurs, the family home that was bought in equal shares will often have to be sold.
Hence there is the possibility that one of the owners may be awarded the property and they then compensate the other financially, or alternatively that it is put up for sale to a third party.
Such reorganisation of joint property also includes any other real estate. In these cases, the tax charge has to be assessed and the advantages afforded by making these kinds of awards in a divorce agreement also have to be looked at.
