AKMV Good day, could you please advise me on what a request for the division of joint marital property (BSM) addressed to the court must include?
How to Write a Request for the Division of Joint Marital Property ?
QUESTION
ANSWER:
The proposal for division by the court must be submitted by one of the ex-spouses. The proposal must be submitted to the court within 3 years from the termination of the joint marital property (BSM), usually within 3 years from the divorce. The proposal for the division of BSM is therefore submitted only after the divorce, followed by the proceedings on the division of BSM.
Division can be done either by agreement or by court. In both cases, the subject must be the entire property belonging to the BSM. It is not possible to conclude an agreement for part of the property in the BSM and to divide the rest by court. The court should establish what exactly is subject to the BSM, and in court proceedings, an appraisal of the BSM property must also be conducted.
The lawsuit may be filed by either ex-spouse. If both file a lawsuit, the court will suspend one of the proceedings due to lis pendens.
The lawsuit for the division of joint marital property should include:
designation of the court to which the lawsuit is addressed
designation of the plaintiff (the ex-spouse filing the lawsuit) and the defendant
statement that this is a lawsuit for the division of joint marital property
description of the factual situation including the date of marriage, divorce or annulment, description of the items that form the subject of joint marital property with their value
petit, i.e. the claim request, for example: “from the items belonging to the joint marital property of the parties, the exclusive ownership is ordered to…” followed by listing the items the plaintiff is to receive, similarly for the defendant
date, signature
The second method of division is the “agreement on the division of joint marital property,” which must be drafted if the spouses have agreed on the division. The content of the agreement will consist of the division of property that belonged to the joint marital property. Basic requirements for the agreement are not set by law, but it is recommended to include in the agreement the identification of the contracting parties (former spouses’ details), the division of property — e.g., person XY acquires exclusive ownership of table model XX, personal car VV, bicycle, etc., date and place of signing, signatures. The agreement must be in writing only if real estate is part of the division. In that case, it must contain the requirements according to the cadastre law. If it is not about real estate, you are only obliged to issue a written confirmation of the content of the division.
JUDr. Veronika Michalíková, MBA