Property matters
Property matters are usually an important, though not a key, issue in a matter of divorce or separation.
The apartment / house
If the spouses occupy a common flat, the court decides in the divorce decree on the manner of using the flat occupied by the spouses in the period of cohabitation after divorce. In practice, this involves, for example, granting one room for exclusive use to the wife and another to the husband (if the flat has more than one room).
In exceptional cases, when one of the spouses engages in abnormal conduct, the court may order his or her eviction at the request of the other spouse. This is particularly the case when a criminal case for family abuse was previously brought against that spouse.
At the mutual request of the parties, the court may also decide on the division of a shared flat or on granting the flat to one of the spouses, if the other spouse consents to leave it without a replacement dwelling being provided, if the division or the grant to one spouse is possible.
It should be remembered that the court will only deal with housing that should be shared by both spouses. In addition, the court, when deciding on the spouses’ shared flat, will take into account primarily the needs of the children and the spouse entrusted with the exercise of parental authority.
Division of assets
At the request of one of the spouses, the court may divide the joint property in a divorce decree, if such division does not cause undue delay in the proceedings. In practice, this division is rare, because judges usually try to finish the case as quickly as possible. On the other hand, the division of property usually prolongs the proceedings, because the spouses are generally in conflict and it is difficult to reach agreement on any matter. The division of joint property must then take place in a separate court case, initiated only after the divorce case has concluded.
However, if the spouses reach an agreement, the risk of an excessively long proceeding is much smaller. You can then try to convince the court that the property should be divided already during the divorce (or separation) case. For this purpose, it is worth preparing all the documents necessary for the court to issue an appropriate ruling – usually the same documents required to sell the given item (e.g. a certificate from a housing co-operative, a copy from the land and mortgage register, or a car registration document).
It should be remembered that debts are not subject to division. For this reason, the bank’s consent is necessary if only one of the spouses is to remain a party to a loan agreement contracted by the spouses.