The separation can lead to surprises on the ownership of the common property, the advice of an expert will be welcome.

Community property and community assets

It is a tautology to say that in a community regime, the joint assets belong half to one of the spouses and half to the other, each of the two remaining full owner of their own assets.

The latter, it is also a tautology, do not form part of the common goods which are defined by article 1401 of the Civil Code. It is thus stated: “The community consists actively of the acquisitions made by the spouses together or separately during the marriage, and coming both from their personal industry and from the savings made on the fruits and income of their own property.”

However, it is a fact observed many times that many spouses are convinced that because the name of a spouse appears on the register of shareholders or on that of the partners of a company limited by shares or by shares, the shares or shares thus allocated belong to him in his own right, even though they were acquired with funds drawn from the community. Often their eyes are not opened until the dissolution of the regime, by death or divorce.