July 2019.

In every asset, there are rights and liabilities for the owner. If you buy a car, you must pay at the point of delivery. If you buy a house, you may take a mortgage loan and pay it back in thirty years. If you have children, your liability lasts a lifetime.

Under the Danish Marriage Law (Lov om ægtefællers økonomiske forhold) article 3, each partner is liable for his/her debts, including before and during the marriage. This rule is relevant if your partner has a business and business liabilities. Your partner may go bankrupt, and the creditors cannot take your part of the assets in the process. Furthermore, you are not liable for the other’s debts, such as child support, old loans, or gambling debt. Of course, when you are married, you may share the burden, but it is voluntary rather than obligatory.

The general rule says that the partner’s debt is his/her own, but if you put your tangible asset (car, equipment) into the partner’s business operation, you are bound by agreements your partner makes with a 3^rd party. Your only chance of keeping the asset is if the 3^rd party has agreed in bad faith, e.g., knowing that your partner does not have the right to own the asset.

In the case of separation or divorce, common debts will be deducted from common-owned assets to calculate the net asset, which will be distributed equally between partners. In Denmark, partners can make separate agreements on assets in marriage; therefore, only the net common-owned assets will be divided between partners, not assets under separate agreements. If a partner’s net asset is positive (larger than private debt), she/he must share half of the positive asset with the other partner. If both have negative net assets, there will be no distribution of net assets between partners.  

Children are the most important assets and desirable liabilities in a divorce. It is usual to see couples fighting over the custody of the children. Even if one partner is willing to take on all responsibilities for the children, the other partner will unlikely let go of his/her parent’s liability (and rights). In Denmark, custody of children is based on a voluntary agreement between partners. If the partners cannot agree, they can apply for help from the Agency of Family Law (Familierethuset). Usually, the children will stay with each parent equally half of the time each month, for example, every second week. If one partner does not pay child support, the other partner can get help from Udbetaling Danmark, who will pay the amount and register at the same time the payment as public debt on the individual.