September, 2019.

The marital agreement is the most delicate topic in a marriage. Somehow, the image of a blissful in-love couple can get stained, if there is a prenuptial between them, except in the case of a significant difference in wealth and social status between the two parties.

 What can you make agreements about?

According to the first article in this series, Know your rights in marriage: Assets, partners can make separate agreements on assets that are excluded by law from the common assets, namely: pension, untransferable rights, and compensations.

The couple can make agreements on how much and how long an asset should be included in the common assets: should it be 100% or only a part of it; or should it be until divorce or death do us part. With a marital agreement, partners can share assets that are excluded from the common assets by law.

An agreement on heritage cannot be agreed without the approval of the giver. Due to the Danish high divorce rate, most parents want the heritage to their children be separated from the common property. Keeping assets for yourself can be tricky in a marriage. The best option is an agreement based on the law article 12, point 1, part 1: the owner keeps the asset in the case of separation or divorce, but shares with the partner in the case of death. Every agreement on heritage should be registered in the giver’s testament according to article 23 of the law.

Prenuptial agreement is not always bad for the weaker side. If one partner has a risky business, big debts or obligations, the agreement will keep your assets safe from the partner’s creditors. One of the most common business tricks when a company is on the edge of bankruptcy, is the owner will transfer assets to the spouse, so he/she can keep them out of reach of the creditors.

What can you not make agreements about?

Partners have the freedom of making separate agreements as long as they do not deviate from the Danish Marriage Law. Nevertheless, partners cannot make agreements about unconditional payments in the future, or private debt should be deducted from the common asset. When agreements are made under foreign laws, if they conflict with the Danish constitution, then they will not be legitimated under the Danish law.

Marital agreements in reality

Marital agreements are what we are talking talk about, but only 1 in 3 actually do it, despite of the Danish average divorce rate of 55% during the last 5 years.