Unlike the statutory community of accrued gains, under an agreed community of property the assets of both spouses merge into a joint marital estate already during the marriage.
In a divorce, this joint estate is divided according to the contractual or statutory shares, for which a current valuation report of the property is likewise required.
Since a community of property (Gütergemeinschaft) is rarely agreed upon in practice, in case of uncertainty about the specific marital property regime, the marriage contract should always be reviewed legally first.
Even in the case of a community of property (Gütergemeinschaft), the same professional methodology remains decisive for valuing the property itself as in the equalisation of accrued gains (Zugewinnausgleich) – the only difference lies in the subsequent legal distribution of the determined value.
Since the community of property comprises all assets of both partners, the settlement can overall be more complex than under a pure community of accrued gains.
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