Inventory of the spouses' starting assets (Germany)
Published byDocMuse
This document is in German
The PDF you download is in German — that is the language it has to be filed in, so it is not translated. Everything on this page is here to tell you what it says.
A joint list, drawn up by both spouses in Germany, of what each owned and owed on the wedding day, plus inheritances and gifts received during the marriage, with values. Under § 1377 of the German Civil Code (BGB), an inventory the spouses draw up together, dated and signed by both, is presumed correct between them; without one, everything a spouse owns at the end is presumed to be gain when the gains are equalised on divorce. No notary needed. Separate property or another regime needs a notarised marriage contract, which this is not. In German.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- First spouse
- First spouse's birth name
- First spouse's date of birth
- First spouse's address
- Second spouse
- Second spouse's birth name
- Second spouse's date of birth
- Second spouse's address
- Date of the marriage or civil partnership
- Civil registry office holding the marriage certificate
- First spouse's assets on the wedding day, with their values
- First spouse's debts on the wedding day, with the amounts
- First spouse's net starting assets in euros (may be negative)
- Second spouse's assets on the wedding day, with their values
- Second spouse's debts on the wedding day, with the amounts
- Second spouse's net starting assets in euros (may be negative)
- Inheritances, gifts and parental settlements received during the marriage (spouse, date, item, value)
- Attachments
- City
- Date
Preview
This document is produced for you. Your answers are typed into it and the finished PDF is yours to keep.
Common questions
- What is an inventory of starting assets for when a German marriage ends?
- When the community of accrued gains ends, on divorce for example, each spouse's gain is worked out — final assets minus starting assets — and the spouse who gained more must pay the other half of the difference (§ 1378(1) BGB). If the spouses recorded the starting assets together in an inventory, it is presumed correct between them (§ 1377(1) BGB). Without one, all final assets are presumed to be gain (§ 1377(3) BGB), and each spouse must prove their starting assets years later.
- Does a German inventory of starting assets have to be notarised?
- No. It is enough that both spouses draw it up together, date it and sign it (§ 1377(2) with § 1035 BGB). Each can require the other to take part and to have the signatures publicly certified, at a notary for example, and each can have values set by experts at their own cost. The inventory is not entered in any register: the register of matrimonial property regimes was abolished on 1 January 2023.
- Can this document set up separate property or another regime for a German marriage?
- No. Changing or excluding the statutory regime — separate property or a modified community of accrued gains, for example — takes a marriage contract made before a notary with both spouses present at the same time (§ 1410 BGB). Agreements on equalising gains with a divorce in view must also be notarised (§ 1378(3) BGB). No fill-in document can replace that; this inventory leaves the property regime as it is.
- Can German spouses draw up the inventory years after the wedding?
- Yes. The law ties the presumption to both spouses drawing up the inventory together, not to a date (§ 1377(1) BGB), and each can require the other to take part (§ 1377(2) BGB). The values that count are still those on the wedding day, though. The sooner the inventory is made, the easier it is to find bank statements, receipts and valuations — so ideally soon after the wedding.
- How does German law treat debts at the wedding and inheritances during the marriage?
- Debts are deducted from the starting assets, even beyond their value, so starting assets can be negative (§ 1374(3) BGB), and paying the debts off during the marriage counts as gain. Inheritances, gifts and parental settlements a spouse receives during the marriage are added to the starting assets at their value on the day received (§ 1374(2) and § 1376(1) BGB). So record them, with evidence, in section 5.
How you can sign this document
- Print it and sign by hand. The signature lines in the document are left blank on purpose — sign on them in ink.
- Sign it yourself with a qualified electronic signature. If you already hold a QES — Evrotrust, B-Trust, StampIT, ZealiD or any qualified provider on the EU Trusted List, on a card, a USB token, in a mobile app or in the cloud — our signing guide explains step by step how to sign this exact file without invalidating it. Step-by-step help, and a way to check it worked
DocMuse sells documents, not legal advice. Acceptance always depends on the recipient's rules and your local law.
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