Anyone who marries in Germany without a prenuptial agreement lives in the statutory matrimonial property regime of the community of accrued gains. This means that each spouse retains and alone manages the assets that it had at the time of marriage, and newly acquired assets also remain separate assets. Only when the marriage ends through divorce (or death) does equalisation take place for unequal increases in wealth during the marriage in the form of so-called equalisation of gains.
Conversely, the separation of assets means that one spouse is generally not liable for the debts of the other spouse, unless they have expressly undertaken to be liable or the debt is for a transaction to cover the family’s reasonable living expenses (so-called agency implied in fact).

Another legal consequence of the statutory matrimonial property regime of community of accrued gains is the two-fold restriction on the execution of certain legal transactions:
A spouse who wishes to dispose of its assets as a whole requires the consent of the other spouse. This is particularly relevant if major assets that constitute the main assets of the spouse, such as real estate or company shares, are to be sold. In such cases, the consent of the other spouse and their signature on the notarised transfer deed are required.
The same applies to the disposal of household items. Such dispositions are also initially ineffective without the consent of the other spouse; they only become effective once consent has been granted.

Spouses owe each other appropriate alimony. This applies from the time of wedding, but also if the parties separate and even often after divorce. The maintenance claim takes on different forms depending on the phase of the marriage.

During the marriage, the claim refers to covering the costs of the household and the personal needs of the spouses and the living expenses of their children. The maintenance obligation applies to all marriage models and types of families. Those who do not work in the marriage, for example, because they take care of children and the household, are entitled to a certain pocket money.

Even in the event of separation, the higher-earning spouse continues to owe the other maintenance, which is generally based on the principle of half-division. Particularly if couples have significant income, the higher income spouse is often surprised at how high the maintenance claim can actually be, especially if the other spouse up to this point has been given only limited money.

Under certain circumstances, maintenance may continue to be owed even after a final divorce, although the principle of half-division also applies here. Circumstances that may give rise to a maintenance obligation after divorce include caring for joint children, unemployment, or even old age or illness. The most common form of maintenance is the so-called top-up maintenance, which enables the (now) working ex-spouse to maintain the previous standard of living for a while after the divorce.

If one of the spouses was not gainfully employed during the marriage, for example, because it was caring for the couple’s children, that spouse is obliged to take up gainful employment at the latest when the divorce petition is filed. If that spouse is still living in the former marital home at that time, it must have the full objective residential value (rent value) added to its income. In some cases, there is then no longer any entitlement to cash maintenance.

Pension entitlements acquired during a marriage belong to the person who has acquired them. If one of the spouses dies, the other may be entitled to a widow(er)’s pension.

In the event of divorce, the family court carries out the so-called pension splitting. It first finds out from the participating pension providers which pension entitlements the spouses have each acquired during the marriage (from the time of their wedding to the time of the divorce petition being served). Those parts of each individual pension entitlement of each spouse that were acquired during the marriage time are then divided equally between the spouses by the pension providers at the instruction of the court as part of the divorce.

If no pension payments are being made yet, but only entitlements exist, then only rebookings are carried out, either within the pension providers themselves by opening a separate pension account for the spouse (so-called internal division) or by transferring the transfer amount of the entitlement to another pension provider (so-called external division). Only when retirement age is reached will the beneficiary spouse benefit from the increase in pension.

If, on the other hand, a spouse is already receiving a pension when the couple divorces, the pension splitting will reduce the spouse´s monthly pension by half, even if the other spouse has not yet reached retirement age (elimination of the pensioner privilege).

Spouses have a statutory right of inheritance along with other relatives of the deceased, and in the event of disinheritance, a claim to a compulsory portion. The inheritance share or the amount of the claim to a compulsory portion depends on whether the deceased spouse leaves children or other relatives at their death and on the matrimonial property regime under which the spouses lived.

If the deceased had already filed for divorce or agreed to the other spouse’s divorce petition before its death, the surviving spouse loses its inheritance rights and right to a compulsory portion.

Since 1 January 2023, spouses have been legally entitled to represent the other spouse to doctors and clinics in the event of unconsciousness or illness and to inspect the other spouse’s medical records. To this extent, the treating physicians are released from their duty of confidentiality.

This does not apply if the spouses live separately or if the ill spouse objects to the representation or if a guardian has been appointed for the ill spouse.

If children are born during a marriage, the parents have joint custody of them by operation of law. This also applies if the biological father of the child is actually another man.

If there are joint children already before the marriage, joint parental responsibility for the children arises upon marriage, unless joint declarations of custody have already been made by the parents beforehand.

From a tax point of view, marriage is generally favourable for couples. In addition to the advantages of joint taxation in the context of the now politically controversial income tax splitting for married couples, which privileges married couples over those who are not married, inheritance tax, gift tax and land transfer tax law also provide for privileges in favour of spouses in the context of existing tax-free allowances and lower tax rates.

In the event of death, the surviving spouse is also entitled to a so-called tax-free allowance for inheritance tax.

The family home is also exempt from inheritance tax if the spouse continues to live in it for ten years. During the lifetime of the owner, the owner-occupied family home can be transferred to the other spouse free of gift tax. If a property is sold between spouses, the land transfer tax does not apply.

Spouses and children can be co-insured with no contributions within the statutory health insurance as long as they are not required to have health insurance themselves and a certain level of total income is not exceeded. A similar rule applies to the subsidy for civil servants.