There are many spouses who cannot accurately identify their common properties and separate ones during the marriage period. Nevertheless, the determination on separation of the common properties is fairly important in case such properties are subject to dispute between the spouses or between the spouses and any third party. Spouses’ common properties during their marriage period are determined as stated in Article 33 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014. Accordingly, spousal common properties are understood as follows:
“The common properties of the spouses include properties created by a spouse, income generated from labour, production and business activities, yields and profits arising from separate properties, and other lawful income during the marriage period; properties jointly inherited by or given to both, and other properties agreed upon by the spouses as their common properties.
The land use rights obtained by a spouse after getting married shall be the common properties of the spouses, unless they come from a separate inheritance, given to a spouse or obtained through transactions made with separate properties.”
In addition, the Law on Marriage and Family also provides that for the spouses’ common properties which is required by law to be registered for ownership, both spouses shall be named in the ownership certificates[2]. However, the spouses are entitled to agree on one spouse who will be named alone in the properties’ ownership certificates.
One of the principles attached to determining the common properties of the spouses during the marriage period is in case there are no ground to prove the properties that the spouses are disputing are private properties of a spouse, such properties will be regarded as the common properties of the spouses[4]. This principle is built on the spirit of “behind every great man there is a great woman”, connecting the spouses’ married life.
Also,
the determination of “other lawful incomes of a spouse” during the marriage
period is set out in Article 9
of the Decree No. 126/2014/ND-CP of the Government. Particularly, the common properties of the spouses during the marriage period include bonuses,
lottery prizes, allowances, properties a spouse has the right to establish
ownership in accordance with the Civil Code for objects which are ownerless,
buried, hidden, sunken, dropped, or forgotten, and domestic animals, poultry or
aquaculture stock which have been lost.
[2] Article 34.1 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014.
[4] Article 34.1 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014.
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