Äganderättsreglering inom äktenskap
My spouse and I recently bought a flat together, but one of us put much more into the down payment than the other.
We have a prenuptial agreement (äktenskapsförord) from before we got married that is registered at Skatteverket, but we would like to write something for this particular flat.
We would like to write a document that states that when we sell the flat, we each get back what we put into the down payment, as well as any renovations or amortization. How can we do this? Is it easier to visit your office on Drottninggatan, or to buy a template from your website? How much would this cost?
Once we have the document written, how do we legalize it? Do we both sign it and send it to Skatteverket, or do we have to get it notarized first?
Lawline svarar
Hello! Thank you for submitting your question to us here at Lawline.
The laws regarding ownership in between married people in Sweden can be found in äktenskapsbalken (shortened as ÄB below, link to the law: https://lagen.nu/1987:230).
There are two ways to solve your problem. Assuming you both own 50% each, a possibility is to have the partner who is supposed to receive less money from the sale to gift a part of the flat to the other one so that the ownership ratio matches the ratio for the amount of money each partner have invested in the flat. If the flat doesn’t sell for the amount to cover both of your expenses this would make the share you each get match the amount you have invested in the flat.
For a gift to be registered between two people who are married it needs to be registered according to chapter 8 § 1 ÄB (link: https://lagen.nu/1987:230#K8P1S1). The process of registering has to comply with the rules in the 16th chapter ÄB. In 16:2 ÄB it says that registrations such as gifts should be registered at Skatteverket (https://lagen.nu/1987:230#K16P2S1). So for this to be registered you both need to, at least, sign a document containing what the gift is, the share of the flat and sign the paper and then send it in to Skatteverket. I would recommend making a proper “gåvobrev” to state who is getting what and how much, and sign it prior to sending it in.
This is the tricky solution because it doesn’t account for later changes to the flat like renevations or amortizations, however if you were to divorce each other you would own the flat in shares representing the money you spent buying it so that the distribution in the “bodelning” would be more accurate. And if one of you gets indebted and kronofogden comes to take the flat to sell it to cover the debts the other partner gets money back. This could be good or bad depending on who becomes indebted. The other way the ownership is a half each so no matter who gets indebted you get half the money back. Worth mentioning is that there’s no tax on gifts so it can be done for free.
The other method and more easily managed one is to write another “äktenskapsförord”. Those only regulate the relationship between you to and it allows you to just add a clause saying that the ratio of money spent in the flat should be the determining factor when you distribute the money gathered from the sale or through the bodelning. This way all you need to is keep a record of who paid for what and how much, then in the end you can calculate how much one spent in relation to the other to figure out how much you each get you sell it or if you happen to divorce each other.
This method is not as secure both in the sense that if you start disagreeing on who spent what on the flat you’ll need evidence of all transactions, but also if one of you becomes indebted and the flat needs to be sold, the other partner only receives half of the raised amount.
Unfortunately I'm unaware of the prices for Lawlines services but all services we provide we do through this website.
Lastly, in Sweden there’s no requirement for notarization. No witnesses are needed for gifts or äktenskapsförord either.
I hope this answers all of your questions.
Sincerely,
