Last Updated on June 28, 2021 by LawEuro
German Civil Code (BGB) German law
Subchapter 3
Joint management of the marital property by the spouses
Section 1450
Joint management by the spouses
(1) If the marital property is jointly managed by the spouses, the spouses are in particular entitled only jointly to dispose of the marital property and to conduct legal disputes that relate to the marital property. The possession of the things that are part of the marital property is the right of the spouses jointly.
(2) Where a declaration of intention is to be made to the spouses, it is sufficient if it is made to one spouse.
Section 1451
Duty of both spouses to cooperate
Each spouse is obliged to the other to cooperate in measures that are necessary for due management of the marital property.
Section 1452
Substitution of approval
(1) Where, for the proper management of the marital property, it is necessary for a legal transaction to be entered into or a legal dispute to be conducted, the family court, on the application of a spouse, may substitute the approval of the other spouse if the latter refuses it without adequate cause.
(2) The provision of subsection (1) also applies if for proper attention to the personal affairs of a spouse a legal transaction is necessary that the spouse may not undertake with effect for the marital property without the approval of the other spouse.
Section 1453
Disposition without consent
(1) If a spouse, without the necessary consent of the other spouse, disposes of the marital property, the provisions of section 1366 (1), (3) and (4) and of section 1367 apply with the necessary modifications.
(2) A contract may be revoked by the third party until the ratification. Where he knew that the spouse was living under community of property, he may revoke only if the spouse untruthfully claimed that the other spouse had consented; in this case too, he may not revoke if when he entered into the contract he knew that the other spouse had not consented.
Section 1454
Emergency right of management
Where a spouse is prevented by illness or absence from cooperating in a legal transaction that relates to the marital property, the other spouse may enter into the legal transaction if delay entails risk; when doing this, he may act either in his own name or in the name of both spouses. The same applies to conducting a legal dispute which relates to the marital property.
Section 1455
Acts of management without the cooperation of the other spouse
Each spouse may, without the cooperation of the other spouse,
1. accept or disclaim an inheritance that has accrued to him or a legacy that has accrued to him,
2. waive his compulsory portion or the equalisation of accrued gains,
3. file an inventory of an inheritance that has accrued to him or to the other spouse, unless the inheritance that has accrued to the other spouse is part of the other spouse’s reserved property or separate property,
4. refuse an offer made to him to enter into a contract or a donation made to him,
5. enter into a legal transaction in relation to the marital property as against the other spouse,
6. judicially assert against the other spouse a right that is part of the marital property,
7. continue a legal dispute which was pending at court when the community of property commenced,
8. judicially assert against a third party a right that is part of the marital property if the other spouse disposed of the right without the necessary approval,
9. judicially assert a right to object to an enforcement of judgment against the marital property,
10. take the necessary measures to preserve the marital property if delay entails risk.
Section 1456
Independent trade or business
(1) If a spouse has consented to the other spouse operating an independent trade or business, his approval of such legal transactions and legal disputes as the business operations entail is not required. Unilateral legal transactions which relate to the trade or business are to be entered into with the spouse who operates the trade or business.
(2) If a spouse knows that the other spouse is operating a trade or business, and if he has filed no objection to this, this is equivalent to consent.
(3) Against third parties, an objection and the revocation of the consent are effective only under section 1412.
Section 1457
Unjust enrichment of the marital property
If a legal transaction that a spouse undertakes without the required approval of the other spouse enriches the marital property, the enrichment is to be returned from the marital property under the provisions on unjust enrichment.
Section 1458
Guardianship of a spouse
As long as a spouse is under parental custody or under guardianship, the other spouse manages the marital property alone; the provisions of sections 1422 to 1449 apply.
Section 1459
Obligations of the marital property; personal liability
(1) The creditors of the husband and the creditors of the wife, may, to the extent that sections 1460 to 1462 do not provide otherwise, require satisfaction from the marital property (marital property obligations).
(2) For the marital property obligations, the spouses are also personally liable as joint and several debtors. If the obligations, as between the spouses, fall on one of the spouses, the obligation of the other spouse expires on the termination of the community of property.
Section 1460
Liability of the marital property
(1) The marital property is liable for an obligation arising from a legal transaction that a spouse enters into during the period of community of property only if the other spouse approves the legal transaction or if the legal transaction is effective for the marital property without his approval.
(2) The marital property is liable for the costs of a legal dispute even if the judgment is not effective in relation to the marital property.
Section 1461
No liability on acquisition of an inheritance
The marital property is not liable for the obligations of one spouse which arise as a result of the acquisition of an inheritance or of a legacy if the spouse acquires the inheritance or the legacy during the period of community of property as reserved property or as separate property.
Section 1462
Liability for reserved or separate property
The marital property is not liable for an obligation of a spouse which comes into existence during the period of community of property as the result of a right that is part of the reserved property or the separate property or of the possession of a thing that is part of the reserved property or of the separate property. However, the marital property is liable if the right or the thing is part of a trade or business which a spouse operates independently with the consent of the other spouse, or if the obligation is one of the burdens of the separate property that are customarily paid from the income.
Section 1463
Liability as between the spouses
As between the spouses, the following marital property obligations fall on the spouse as whose personal obligations they arise:
1. the obligations arising from a tort which he commits after the commencement of the community of property, or from criminal proceedings that are conducted against him with regard to such an act;
2. the obligations arising from a legal relationship that relates to his reserved property or his separate property, even if they arose before the commencement of the community of property or before the time at which the property became reserved property or separate property;
3. the costs of a legal dispute about one of the obligations set out in nos. 1 and 2.
Section 1464
Obligations of the separate property and of a trade or business
The provisions of section 1463 nos. 2 and 3 do not apply if the obligations are part of the burdens of the separate property which are customarily paid from the income. Nor do the provisions apply if the obligations arise from the operation of a trade or business that is conducted for the account of the marital property or as the result of a right or of the possession of a thing that belongs to such a trade or business.
Section 1465
Costs of litigation
(1) As between the spouses, the costs of a legal dispute that the spouses conduct against each other are borne by the spouse who is to bear them under general provisions of law.
(2) If a spouse conducts a legal dispute against a third party, the costs of the legal dispute, as between the spouses, are borne by the spouse who conducts the legal dispute. However, the costs are borne by the marital property if the judgment takes effect against the marital property or if the legal dispute relates to a personal matter or a marital property obligation of the spouse and the disbursement of the costs is appropriate in the circumstances; section 1463 no. 3 and section 1464 are unaffected.
Section 1466
Costs of the advancement of a child that is not a child of the spouses
As between the spouses, the costs of the advancement of a child that is not a child of the spouses are borne by the father or mother of the child.
Section 1467
Equalisation between reserved property, separate property and marital property
(1) If a spouse applies marital property to his reserved property or his separate property, he must reimburse to the marital property the value of the property applied.
(2) If a spouse applies reserved property or separate property to the marital property, he may require compensation from the marital property.
Section 1468
Due date of the equalisation claim
Whatever a spouse owes to the marital property or whatever he owes to the reserved property or separate property of the other spouse he need not pay until after the termination of the community of property; but to the extent that the reserved property and the separate property of the debtor are sufficient, he must discharge the debt before this.
Section 1469
Action for termination
Each spouse may institute proceedings for the termination of the community of property,
1. if his future rights may be substantially endangered as a result of the fact that the other spouse, without his cooperation, undertakes acts of management that may be undertaken only jointly,
2. if the other spouse, without adequate cause, persistently refuses to cooperate in the proper management of the marital property,
3. if the other spouse has violated his duty to contribute to the family maintenance and a substantial endangerment of the maintenance is to be feared in the future,
4. if the marital property is over-indebted by obligations that arose as personal obligations of the other spouse, and are borne by the latter as between the spouses, to such an extent that its later acquisition is substantially endangered,
5. if the exercise of a right of the other spouse that arises from the community of property falls under the area of responsibilities of a custodian.
Section 1470
Effect of the judicial termination decision
(1) When the judicial decision becomes final and absolute, the community of property is terminated; separation of property applies for the future.
(2) Against third parties, the termination of the community of property is effective only under section 1412.
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