When a couple decides to end their marital bond, either through divorce or legal separation, one of the aspects where the most amount of obstacles arise is in the distribution of joint property, such as Family Law in Costa Rica.

Article 41 of our Family Code indicates that “When the marriage is dissolved or declared null, when the legal separation is declared, and when, after the nuptials, marriage agreements are celebrated, each spouse acquires the right to participate in half of the net value of community assets found in the other’s assets”.

That is, once the marriage has been dissolved or the legal separation has been declared, each spouse will have the right to fifty percent (50%) of the net value of the assets considered as community assets (community assets) within the assets that they formed together, as a Right of family. It is important to indicate that the same article 41 of the aforementioned regulations mentions the assets over which there is no right of participation as community property, which are the following:

– Those that were introduced to the marriage, or acquired during it, by gratuitous title or by random cause;
– Those bought with own values of one of the spouses, destined to it in the matrimonial agreements;
– Those whose cause or title of acquisition preceded the marriage;
– The movable or immovable property that were subrogated to others belonging to one of the spouses; and
– Those acquired during the de facto separation of the spouses.
This same article indicates that it is possible for the spouses to renounce the advantages of the distribution of community property; This can be done in two ways:
– Expressly renounce the right to participate in community property in marriage agreements; and
– In the divorce agreement by mutual consent, which must be done in a public deed.

The regulations also allow a process known as the early liquidation of community property to be carried out, as long as, upon request of one of the spouses to the Family Court, it is undoubtedly proven that the interests of the spouse run the risk of being compromised due to the mismanagement of his consort, or for acts that threaten to circumvent their earnings (simulated sales or transfers).

Assets considered community property, at the time of filing a judicial divorce process, will be considered fully encumbered, that is, the Court will order the annotation of the claim at the margin of registration of the assets in the National Registry, this to avoid that the spouse to whom each property belongs to dispose of it maliciously.

If you require advice on the joint property in Costa Rican family law, or on any other within Family Law, ERP Lawyers puts at your disposal a specialized team. Do not hesitate to contact us!