Anyone who has studied the issue of marriage or its dissolution in the Czech Republic has definitely come across the acronym SJM from the unknown connection of the joint property of the spouses. Translated into English, this means “joint property of the spouses”.

Does the SJM include an apartment that the husband bought before the wedding? And what about the inheritance of the wife, will it be part of the common property? Or a fairly large loan that the girl forgot to apply for? The answers to all these and many other questions related to the spouses’ property regime can be found below.

How does joint ownership arise?

SJM, or joint property of spouses, arises automatically from the law at the time of marriage. It turns out that the car bought right after the wedding will already be part of the SJM. In addition, the first salary that will come to your account after the wedding belongs to the husband within the SJM.

However, in the case of SJM, you have the right to choose a regime different from what the legislator proposes. Just write a co-ownership agreement. We will talk about all the subtleties of this possibility below.

Not yours, but ours! Or what assets are included in the SJM and which are not?

The Civil Code of the Czech Republic establishes the presumption that all property acquired by the spouses after the marriage is their common property. This means that everything that has been acquired by one or both spouses since the marriage is common.

But it is time to turn to §709 of the Civil Code, which will kindly tell us what does not belong to the SJM.

Things for the personal needs of the couple (shoes, clothes, professional tools). To give a rather sad but real example: the husband proved that Armani’s suits, a watch worth a car, bought for family money, by the way, were vital for him to meet his normal needs. And it doesn’t matter that in this case, the wife can stay conditioned with one apron and a toothbrush.

Property donated to one of the spouses or inherited by him after the marriage, unless it is stated in the gift contract or will that the property passes into the joint property of the spouses.

Funds received by one of the spouses as damages or other damages, including non-pecuniary damage, special-purpose assistance and other payments related exclusively to the person of the spouse who received them.

Property of one of the spouses acquired through the sale of his personal property (eg the husband sold a motorcycle that belonged to him before the wedding and bought something else for the proceeds, this “something else” will also apply to his personal property But not if the new motorcycle was not enough and the wife kindly paid for the savings, then the motorcycle can be considered part of the SJM.

The SJM also includes income from property that is personally owned by one of the spouses. Therefore, if your partner owns a privately owned apartment (for example, because he already owned it before the wedding or inherited it after the wedding), the profit from renting it is already a joint property.

As for business activities, let’s look at an example: if the husband is one of the founders, eg s.r.o. (aka “ooo”), then the value of his share is the joint property of the spouses. Nevertheless, the wife still does not hold the rights arising from the ownership of shares in the company, which means that, for example, she cannot participate in business decisions.

And what about debts, are they also common?

But what about debts, they are also common? So if you and your wife take out a loan or a mortgage, then the debt on it is part of the SJM and you are both responsible for repaying it.

The joint debt also arises when borrowing only one of the spouses, which is a regular purchase for the needs of the family. That is, if the wife uses a credit card for regular purchases of products, such debt will be assessed in the SJM regime, but if without the husband’s consent to issue a loan for a new car, then the obligation to repay the debt will be solely its responsibility and legally must pay it from personal resources.

Another item not included in the SJM is debts related to property exclusively owned by one of the spouses. For example, if one of the spouses took out a car loan before the wedding, then only he is obliged to repay the loan.

When will the period of co-ownership expire and how is this problem solved?

The joint property of the spouses automatically terminates at the moment of the dissolution of the marriage. The salary you receive the day after the divorce will be your sole property. However, everything you earned and acquired during your marriage remains in the joint property of the spouses. You can “settle” with a framework agreement or go to court. It would be ideal to draw up an agreement on the division of property before filing for divorce.

The joint property regime also expires in the event of the death of one of the spouses. The notary is responsible for settling the division of property within the inheritance proceedings. He must first divide the SJM and then decide what is included in the property of the deceased spouse. In this case, any instructions of the deceased or a preliminary agreement of the spouses regarding their property must be taken into account.

But what if this condition does not suit us SJM?

Those spouses who do not want to comply with the legal rules described above may resolve their property matters differently by drawing up a notarized contract. Therefore, SJM does not have to arise at all, if so provided in the prenuptial agreement. It is also possible to narrow the SJM so that the property specified in the contract remains the personal property of the spouses. The opposite option is possible – spouses can “expand” the SJM by agreeing to own property that should remain in the personal ownership of each of them by law (eg inheritance, donated property, or earned more property before the wedding).