BSM (Community Property of Spouses) – signature of only one of the spouses

Act No. 40/1964 Coll. the Civil Code, as amended (hereinafter referred to as the “Civil Code”), regulates the management of common property by spouses in the provision of Section 145 (1): “Routine matters concerning common things may be settled by either spouse. In other matters, the consent of both spouses is required; otherwise, the legal act is void.“ The law does not define the terms “routine matters” and “other matters”; it is necessary to take into account the individuality of each case. It follows from judicial practice that it is necessary to take into account the nature of the thing, its value, as well as the purpose for which the thing usually serves. The purchase of a car for a third party must be considered a legal act that does not concern a routine matter.

A legal act performed without the consent of the spouse (if it does not concern a routine matter) is relatively void pursuant to the provision of Section 40a of the Civil Code. This means that the affected spouse (i.e., the one without whose consent the legal act was realized) has the option to invoke the voidness of the legal act in court, specifically within the general 3-year limitation period. To invoke relative voidness, it will be necessary to draft a submission (lawsuit) and pay a court fee. Since this will be adversary proceedings, the submission must be addressed to the court competent pursuant to the provisions of Section 13 and Section 14 of Act No. 160/2015 Coll. the Civil Dispute Procedure Code, as amended (hereinafter referred to as the “Civil Dispute Procedure Code”): “For proceedings in the first instance, the court with local jurisdiction is the general court of the defendant, unless provided otherwise. The general court of a natural person is the court in whose district the natural person has their permanent residence address.”

If the court declares the legal act of the husband to be void, the deed of gift concluded between the husband and the third party will be void.