Do we need a marriage settlement?

First, it is important to consider whether a marriage settlement is needed.

Here you can see the differences between having and not having a marriage settlement

Without a marriage settlement, this applies

• joint property

When you get married, the main rule is that you have common property. Joint property means that the assets, basically, are to be divided equally upon divorce. You still have the right to own the assets you own separately, with some exemptions for common housing and household contents.

• ability to claim unequal division

It is possible to claim unequal division upon divorce or death. The right to claim unequal division means that you may require to keep certain portions of the property (unequal division of property) out of the partition. This applies to values that you brought into the marriage, and what you later have inherited or have received as gift from others than the spouse.

• the right to retain undivided estate with common property

When the one you are married to dies, you have the right to retain undivided possession of an estate with joint property. This implies that you take charge of all the common assets, and the distribution of the deceased’s estate will be delayed. If the deceased has children with anyone other than you, they must consent to this.

• imposed separate property

If someone decides that you should receive assets as inheritance or gift, they can at the same time decide that it should be your separate property. These are assets that must be kept out of partition upon termination of the marriage.

In a marriage settlement you can, among other things, agree upon

• complete separation of property
• partial separation of property
• separate property whilst alive, common property upon death
• right to retain undivided possession of assets with separate property
• gifts between you as spouses

You can also enounce the right to demand an unequal division.

Binding agreement

The marriage settlement is a binding agreement between spouses and their heirs from the time it is signed in accordance with the formal requirements of the Marriage Act (in Norwegian).

Even if you set up a marriage settlement, you still have contractual freedom upon divorce. This means that you have full freedom to distribute the values in another way than the original agreement, if the parties agree.