The joint property of the spouses acquired together in an officially registered marriage has a precise definition. The law recognizes as such immovable and movable property that was acquired or accumulated by spouses while they lived with each other and ran a joint household. At the same time, the law does not divide this property on the basis of whom it was registered, in contrast to the one that was received under a donation agreement.
Instructions
Step 1
Regardless of whether a person is married or not, he always has the right to private ownership of movable or immovable property. In this case, the property should be mentioned with the prefix "personal". Personal property is not counted as joint property of the spouses. Such property includes, including that which was received as a gift.
Step 2
When dividing the spouses' property in the event of divorce, the main difficulty is the identification of movable or immovable property as personal, i.e. not subject to division and segregated from jointly acquired property. This is due to the lack of documents confirming the fact of donation to a particular spouse. In the case where there is a donation agreement, this problem will not be. This document allows you to unambiguously determine the sole owner of this property.
Step 3
However, there are cases when personal property can still be recognized as joint property. This will happen if the value of the property that you owned as a gifted was significantly increased by funds considered jointly acquired. For example, if you were presented with an apartment in which you and your spouse made redevelopment and major repairs using expensive technologies and materials.
Step 4
According to article 37 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation, there is the possibility of transferring property that you own on the basis of a donation agreement. It can also go from private to joint ownership in the case of long-term joint use by both spouses. Of course, this category includes not only apartments, but also houses, summer cottages, cars, expensive appliances and durable equipment, as well as enterprises registered in the name of one of the spouses. When dividing property, the court will take into account from what moment the joint use of this property began, as well as what changes have occurred to it in connection with refurbishment or repair.
Step 5
The cases when the property received under the donation agreement will be classified as jointly acquired include those when this gift was received as a reward for good work as a bonus or as wages. If, for example, an enterprise donated an apartment to its employee and formalized his ownership of it under a donation agreement, such an apartment will be considered by the court as joint property.
