Prenuptial agreements and law for married couples

Much in the Swedish Marriage Code cannot be contracted away. What you can control yourselves is worth looking at calmly, before it becomes relevant. What you need depends on your situation.

What is a prenuptial agreement?

A written agreement between spouses, or spouses to be, that certain property is to be separate property instead of marital property.

Marital property is divided in a division of property. Separate property is not. Through a prenuptial agreement the division rules of the Marriage Code can be contracted away wholly or in part. Most often it is written to protect whichever of you has the most.

Does it have to be registered?

Yes. To be valid the prenuptial agreement must be in writing and registered with the Swedish Tax Agency in the marriage register. A paper in a drawer has no effect.

Review it at regular intervals. A small change in life can make a large difference to how property is divided later.

Do we inherit from each other automatically?

Yes, but with what is called free right of disposal: the survivor may use and spend the property, but cannot pass it on by will. If you have only children together, the children do not inherit until both spouses have died.

What applies if one of us has children from an earlier relationship?

Then it looks different. A child from an earlier relationship has the right to inherit from their parent directly, ahead of the surviving spouse. If you want the surviving spouse to be provided for, a will can govern how and when the inheritance is divided.

The law sets formal requirements for wills. If they are not met the will is not valid, and that only comes to light when it is to be used. That is why it is worth getting help.

Will the will be found when it is needed?

Not by itself. Our document monitoring service, Dokumentbevakning, keeps track of it for you: through the Swedish Tax Agency we learn when a person whose document we monitor has died, and we make sure the will is produced in time.

When is a deed of gift needed?

When something of value is to be given away and there should be no doubt afterwards about the terms. The deed of gift states what is given, by whom and to whom.

Three things are worth thinking through: whether the gift is to carry conditions, whether it is to be the recipient’s separate property, and whether a gift to your own child is to count as an advance on their inheritance.

What applies to gifts between spouses?

Here there are requirements: the deed of gift must be drawn up and registered with the Swedish Tax Agency for the gift to hold against the giver’s creditors. If you give each other a property, or part of a property, the deed must be registered before title registration can be applied for.

If the rules in the Land Code and the Gifts Act are not met, there is a risk that the transaction becomes invalid. If payment has been made, the gift can also be counted as a purchase, and that triggers capital gains tax.

What does it cost?

It depends on which documents you need. Call us and we will go through your situation and give you a price before you decide. The first conversation costs nothing and does not commit you to anything.