Disclosure of your spouse’s assets: what you are entitled to

Which dates can you ask for disclosure about?

The gain made during a marriage is a difference, and each side of that calculation needs figures. That is why the right to disclosure under § 1379 BGB covers three cut-off dates. They are the initial assets when you married, the assets at separation, and the final assets when the Scheidungsantrag (divorce petition) is served (§ 1384 BGB).

The middle date is the one that decides: only a comparison with the date of separation shows whether anything was moved in the meantime.

While you live apart: disclosure at separation

The most effective change brought by the 2009 reform is disclosure at separation. You can ask for disclosure of the assets as of the date of separation while the property regime still exists and you live apart (§ 1379 (2) BGB). That is long before the equalization itself.

This lets you record early on where things stand, before accounts are emptied, assets “repurposed” or shareholdings moved around. If you document that date, a later dispute loses its footing.

Documents, not just assertions

Disclosure does not mean accepting a list and taking it on trust. On request, supporting documents must be produced. You can ask to be present when the inventory is drawn up, and you can require individual items to be valued (§ 1379 BGB).

Ideally, the two of you draw up a joint inventory (§ 1377 BGB) that is binding on both sides. Only checked figures support a claim that holds up in court.

The link to § 1375: assets that have vanished

This is where it all comes together. If the final assets are lower than the assets at the date of separation, the burden of explanation shifts. Your spouse then has to explain where the difference went (§ 1375 (2) BGB).

If they cannot, the amount is added back to their final assets, as if it had never left. Gifts, squandering and acts meant to put the other spouse at a disadvantage all count in this way.

How do you enforce the right to disclosure?

If disclosure does not come or looks incomplete, the claim goes to court as a staged action. First comes the disclosure. If there is good reason to doubt that it is accurate and complete, an affirmation in lieu of an oath follows, and finally the application for a specific sum.

The advantage: you do not need to know how much you are owed in order to assert your right. You obtain the figures through the court and put a number on the claim only once they are established.

Once the figures are in

Disclosure is a means to an end. Once the figures are available, the real work begins: placing the initial and final assets, valuing the items, calculating the equalization claim. How this works in principle is explained on our page on the equalization of accrued gains.

For each item, a lot depends on the valuation. For a property, the market value less any charges counts, not the land register entry. More on that in Property in the equalization of accrued gains. If a business is part of the assets, it is valued under rules of its own: Valuing a business in the equalization of accrued gains. And if assets are held abroad, the first question is which matrimonial property law applies at all: Foreign assets in the equalization of accrued gains.

Whether disclosure at separation, a demand for documents or a staged action is the right first step depends on what you already know and what is being kept from you. In a confidential first consultation, we work out which information to secure first in your case.