4.1. Do one or more matrimonial property registers exist in your country? Where?

There are two registers of marriage contracts in the Czech Republic:

• List of acts on matrimonial property regime – a public electronic register
• Register of acts on matrimonial property regime – a non-public electronic register.

Both registers are maintained, operated and administered by the Notary Chamber of the Czech Republic.

4.2. Which documents are registered? Which information is registered?

4.3. How and by whom can the information in the register be accessed?

List of acts on matrimonial property regime

The List of acts is intended for entering marriage contracts (or agreements amending such contracts) and judgments on matrimonial property regime. The list includes an index and a collection of acts.

The following data are filed in this register:

• name, surname, date of birth and residence of the (future) spouses,
• the date of conclusion and entry into effect of the marriage contract, specification of the agreed regime under the Civil Code and the name, surname and address of the civil law notary who drew up the contract on matrimonial property regime, or
• date of issue and entry into force of the judicial decision on matrimonial property regime, its file number, designation of the court which issued the decision and an indication of whether the court cancelled or renewed the joint property of spouses, or reduced its current scope or changed the matrimonial property regime,
• if necessary, other information.

The Collection of acts contains a counterpart of the marriage contract or a court ruling. The marriage contract is only registered in the List if this is stipulated in the marriage contract, or at the request of both spouses. On the other hand, the entry of judgments on matrimonial property regime is mandatory irrespective of the will of the spouses.

The List is public and the Notary Chamber of the Czech Republic publishes information entered in the List in a manner that allows for remote access. Any notary shall issue at anyone’s request a copy of the marriage contract or the court decision from the Collection of acts, or eventually issue a confirmation that such instrument is not registered in the List (Sections 35j – 35l of Act No. 358/1992 Coll. on Notaries and their Activities ("Notarial Procedures").

Register of acts on matrimonial property regime

Also the Register of acts is intended for entering marriage contracts (or agreements amending these contracts) and judgments on matrimonial property regime. The following data are filed in this register:

• name, surname, date of birth and residence of the (future ) spouses,
• name, surname and the seat of the civil law notary with whom the marriage contract is deposited (or analogical information on the judgment of the court),
• file number and the date of the contract (or analogical information on the judgment of the court),
• date of registration.

The information in the Register may be accessed only by the civil law notary who drew up the marriage contract and by the Notary Chamber of the Czech Republic. The Register serves as a source of information on the applicable matrimonial property regime only in the course of inheritance proceedings after the death of one of the spouses. Upon request by the civil law notary empowered by the court to act in the inheritance matter as the court commissioner, the Notary Chamber provides the civil law notary with information about whether a marriage contract (or more contracts (agreements)) entered into by the deceased has been registered and with which civil law notary it is deposited, or if a court judgment on the matrimonial property regime of the testator has been registered. All the above-mentioned data are communicated to the civil law notary (Section 35d of Notarial Procedures).

4.4. What are the legal effects of registration (validity, opposability)?

List of acts on matrimonial property regime

If the marriage contract or the court decision on matrimonial property regime is registered in the List, the couple can rely on them towards third parties, even if these were not familiar with their content (Section 35 para. 1 of Notarial Procedures).

Register of acts on matrimonial property regime

Entries in the Register are not legally binding. The Register serves for informational purposes only.

4.5. Can a matrimonial contract concluded in a foreign state according to foreign law be registered in your country? If yes, under which conditions or formalities?

[This information is valuable in respect of third parties, see art. 28 of the European Regulation (EU) 2016/1103 of 24 June 2016. When a matrimonial contract is registered in your country it can be invoked against third parties. An interconnection of matrimonial property registers in Europe is not existing and therefor the registration of the matrimonial contract must be undertaken in all countries separately, where the spouses have property or conclude contracts. Only then the spouses can invoke their matrimonial contract against third parties in that country.]

No. Foreign matrimonial contracts cannot be registered in the Czech Republic.

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