Marriage

There are many rules to adhere to once you have married. Many of these rules are compulsory and can therefore not be waived. What legal documents you need to draft in your marriage depends on your life situation. If any of you have children from previous relationships there may be a need to draft a will for example in order to achieve increased protection for surviving dependants. It is also common for spouses to have different levels of wealth which may give cause to establish a matrimonial property agreement.

Please contact us and we will be happy to assist you with information, advice and/or the drafting of documents to safeguard your legal and financial protection.

Matrimonial property agreement

The Marriage Code stipulates rules on division of joint property between spouses. That which is included in a division of joint property between spouses is called marital property. The opposite of marital property is separate property. Separate property is not included in a potential future division of joint property. By drafting a matrimonial property agreement, a written agreement between spouses or future spouses stating that property that belongs or is due to them shall remain their separate property, the regulations on division of joint property in the Marriage Code can be completely or partially waived. Normally a matrimonial property agreement is drafted in order to protect a spouse that is financially stronger.

In order for a matrimonial property agreement to be valid it shall be put in writing and be registered in the Swedish Tax Agency’s marriage register. We recommend reviewing the matrimonial property agreement regularly as a small change in your living situation can bring about large changes in how the property will be divided in the future.

Last will and testament

Pursuant to the regulations of the Inheritance Code, spouses inherit each other with unrestricted disposal. This means that if the spouses have joint children, these will not inherit anything until the last of the spouses have passed away. However, if the deceased spouse have children from a previous relationship it may be pertinent to draft a will that regulates how and when the inheritance shall be divided as a child of the deceased person from a previous relationship has a direct right to inherit their parent above the surviving spouse. The law has formal requirements on wills. It is important that the will meets these formal requirements which is why it may be a good idea to seek the help of a lawyer. Us here at E. Nilssons will be happy to assist you.

Monitoring the will
Our document monitoring service entails us monitoring your will to ensure that it is unearthed the day it is needed. It is a digital service where we, via the Swedish Tax Agency, are informed when a person whose document we are monitoring has passed away. This way you do not risk your will arriving too late or not at all.

Deed of gift

A deed of gift is a document containing information on what is being gifted, who is gifting it as well as who the recipient of the gift is. When a deed of gift is drafted it is important to think about whether the gift shall come with any conditions, whether the gift shall be the separate property of the receiver and if gifts given to your own children shall be an advance on inheritance.

For gifts between spouses there is a requirement for a deed of gift to be drafted and registered with the Swedish Tax Agency for the gift to be valid in relation to the giver’s creditors. When you are giving away a property or a part of a property as a gift to your spouse the gift document shall be registered with the Swedish Tax Agency prior to seeking registration of title of the property.

If the regulations of the Land Code and Gifts Act that regulates gifts are not fulfilled there is a risk of the transaction being invalid. Furthermore, if certain reimbursement has been paid in connection with the gift, it may be considered a purchase and thus trigger capital gains taxation. It may therefore be a good idea to seek the help of a lawyer when drafting gift documents.