The default marriage regime has some complicated tax consequences
WHEN LOVE is in the air and couples are planning their big dream wedding and making honeymoon arrangements, a trip to their attorney’s office is usually low down their priority list.
In fact, many couples are unaware that there are various marital legal frameworks that have an impact on how their assets are to be managed within the marriage, how they are distributed when the marriage ends*—and how they are taxed.
What the various legal frameworks establish is whether or not any form of ‘community of property’ exists between the partners in a marriage. This concept is a throwback to the days where a married couple’s assets were pooled into a single estate, which in turn was controlled and managed by the husband.
The concept of ‘marital power’ was removed in 1984 through the promulgation of the Matrimonial Property Act, and various other pieces of legislation have since been enacted in order to recognise same-sex unions and …
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