Spousal Consent for Real Estate Disposal

Spousal consent – a professional template in Word format

A spouse’s consent to a disposal of real estate is a written and certified statement by which the other spouse or cohabiting partner approves a specific legal transaction concerning the property – a sale, a gift, the creation of a mortgage or another disposal. The typical situation is a property bought during the marriage but registered in the land register in the name of only one spouse. The registered spouse may formally dispose of it, but the other has a co-ownership claim to one half, so a transaction concluded without consent remains exposed to the risk of being challenged.

The consent is given in accordance with the Family Act (Obiteljski zakon) and the Ownership and Other Real Rights Act (Zakon o vlasnistvu i drugim stvarnim pravima), under which a disposal of joint property, or of an entire thing held in co-ownership, requires the consent of the other spouse, or of all co-owners. That is why banks, buyers and notaries public ask for it before the main contract is signed.

Key features

• A professional template – a consent in five points with an express reference to the Family Act (Obiteljski zakon) and the Ownership and Other Real Rights Act (Zakon o vlasnistvu i drugim stvarnim pravima).
• Practical reliability – it contains a waiver of the right to challenge the transaction, which is the most important part of the document for the acquirer and the bank.
• Easy customisation – a choice of the type of disposal (sale, gift, mortgage or other) and a variant for a cohabiting union.
• Digital availability – the DOCX file with instructions arrives by e-mail immediately after purchase, ready to print and have the signature certified.

What the template includes

• Details of the person giving the consent and of the spouse or cohabiting partner (name, OIB – personal identification number, address)
• Point 1 – the express consent with a choice of the type of disposal, and identification of the property by address, cadastral parcel number, land registry folio number and cadastral municipality
• Point 2 – the status of the property, marital property (bracna stecevina) held in co-ownership, or a property acquired during the marriage but registered in the name of only one spouse
• Point 3 – confirmation of familiarity with the specific legal transaction, including the other contracting party with the OIB, the price and the essential terms
• Point 4 – a waiver of the right to challenge the transaction on the ground of a disposal of marital property without consent
• Point 5 – the legal basis of the consent under the Family Act (Obiteljski zakon) and the Ownership and Other Real Rights Act (Zakon o vlasnistvu i drugim stvarnim pravima)
• A highlighted note on the mandatory notarial certification of the signature
• Instructions explaining when the consent is not required and how to identify the legal transaction precisely

Legal framework

The signature on the consent is certified by a notary public, before or at the latest at the same time as the signing of the main contract. Without a certified signature the consent will as a rule not be accepted in land registry proceedings or by the bank. If both spouses take part in the contract itself as sellers, a separate consent is as a rule not required, because it follows from their signatures on the contract.

The consent is as a rule enclosed with the real estate purchase agreement with a clausula intabulandi (registration consent). If the property is not marital property at all, but the separate property of one spouse, the more appropriate document is the statement that the property is not marital property.