Could you share the document so I can have a look? Any more specific detail done by experience?
Thanks
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A friend signed a concubinate contract or something like that. I remember he critiquing mainly a rule which apparently would force a man to pay for a child that his wife got while cheating on. him with someone else. TBH I hope that was not his main reason.
Actually what are the benefits or being married in CH?
In Italy one might have a very hard time visiting their SO if (s)he gets very ill, like in a coma, and his/her family would be able to decide everything.
Other benefits?
Probably close to zero as long the SO is from a EU/EFTA country. I had to because of the 3rd world country status of my wifes home country.
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My understanding: Lower taxes if one partner isnât working. Also simplifies a lot of things in case of death (esp. if you have young kids, since theyâd inherit it instead of having anything going to the remaining partner).
May or may not be fixable with an explicit will (but also inheritance taxation is usually more favorable for married partners).
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Brainstorming:
-In many cantons there is No inheritance tax if married
-less admin if you have kids (for example unmarried father may need additional steps to have parental authority over kid)
-if one person has a better 2 pillar scheme you can choose which one to top up with additional contributions
Otherwise the benefits are psychological and emotional.
If you are both working being married is a bad deal on taxes. It costs us over 1 monthsâ after tax salary every year which I find painful but my proposal to get divorced on paper, but stay together, never fliesâŠ
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If you donât have a specific marital property law, like « separation of property » (art. 185, 247 ss CC), all you earn after mariage is due to your spouse 
(50/50) as said by @Burningstone :
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Yes we do have a French contract not sure if I need to translate it to Swiss law in order to be followed in cas of a divorce.
It should be ok for the Swiss authority, if you get divorced in Switzerland. It depends on where you are both living. The country of residence is competent for the divorce just in case, for who are living outside of Switzerland (France, Germany, Italy, Austria).
Just be aware that as soon as kids are involved you can basically burn any marriage contract.
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How so?
Have you had any experiences with that?
Not myself, but a good friend of mine had an ugly divorce and even though they had a marriage contract, the judge nullified it because it was disadvantageous for the wife with the child.
I thought the marriage contract was just for how the wealth is divided, but not for alimony.
Interested to know more about that. The mariage contract should not have any negative consequence about the wealth part, except for the 2nd pilar which will be splitted in two no matter what.
The other consequence is about paying for the wife who wasnât working during the marriage and for the kids.
Also if the wife signed or agree to the contract without understanding the consequence of it and if she gets a good lawyer who can prove it, of course it could be an argument to nullify the contract.
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I think this is for another thread if it didnât exist already.
Of course when you are married you will need to contribute to your child education.
You will also need to compensate the years when your wife could not worked.
For this reason, you will split both second pillars contribution during mariage years and any additional contributions to the non obligatory part.
In France, you will also compensate the loss of quality of life with a lump sum or a monthly compensation.
In my point of view, a contract and not receiving both salary on a join account will help to protect your investment or saving in case one of the partner change or want something else in life during the next 30-40 years of mariage.
This is definitely new to me.
To my knowledge and also in this link, that has been shared earlier in this thread, they only talk about splitting Pensionskasse (second pillar): GĂŒtertrennung
The law is above anything you can write in a personal and notarized contract. What if the law changes after that contract was signed? Itâs overriding what you have in that contract. So there is still a risk associated even if it is mitigated. But some things are out of your hands regardless.
The law, or rather the swiss judges, recently changed their attitude in the newest verdicts. Deciding more in the favor of the âmain income earnerâ, meaning that the spouse, who mostly didnt work during the marriage, has to do absolutely everything to find a new job. They also need to take on a work, which is considered as âlesser than what they used to workâ. So they canât just lay back, having their ex-partner financing them the usual standard of living.
IMO this changes the situation quite a bit.
â New law practice
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Yes and thatâs a good thing. To make a living you gotta work and living off someone isnât fair. Thatâs why I think both in a couple should work if kids allow for it (even if itâs just 40%). When youâre too long away from work it gets complicated getting back in especially for knowledge workers where things change all the time.
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Iâd even go as far as saying, that none of the two parents should work less than 60% (apart from maybe the first 1-2 years of the childâs life).
Ideally both parties even work at the same level of employment (60/60, 70/70, 80/80) whenever possible. This does a few things:
- Both stay active in their careers (keeps their market value high)
- Both contribute to their pension fund = less wealth differences later on
- Both are, to some extend, independent of one another
- Both enjoy a daily routine, which gives them different thoughts, whereas itâs otherwise only about the baby for one person
- Both build a similarly good relationship with the child due to spending more time together
In my eyes these points would avoid many problems later on in life.
Unfortunately, itâs more convenient in most families for the main income earner (usually the male) to stay at 100% and for the female to start working part time at some point.
I could see, and still can, the consequences of this issue first hand with my parents, who got divorced after all the kids were out and my mother staying home for most of the time and only started working 20-50% late in the marriage.
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