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

Yes, the National Register of Marriage and Partnership Contracts (hereinafter: Register) exists since 15 March 2014.

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

The Register contains the following data:

• the existence of the contract;
• the first name, the surname (also the maiden name) and the date and place of birth of the contracting parties as well as their mothers’ first names and maiden surnames;
• the identification number and the date of the authentic instrument/the date of the private document countersigned by an attorney which includes the contract;
• the name and seat of the notary, the identification number and the date of the registration;
• in case of termination of the contract, the fact of the termination, the name and seat of the registering notary, the identification number and the date of registration.

(Art. 36/K of the Act XLV of 2008 on Certain Non-Litigious Notarial Procedures)

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

Anyone with a legal interest is entitled to require information on the existence of the contract and take notes of the related information for own purposes. The request - which is subject to fees - can be made at any Hungarian notary. The notary can deliver the information on the existence if the enquirer gave him/her the data (see under 4.2.) of one of the contracting parties and if the same person attested his/her legal interest.

Upon request, the notary delivers a certificate on the existence or non-existence of a contract in the register. Information on the content of the contract can be delivered only upon the written permission of one of the contracting parties. This kind of request can be made at the notary who registered the existence of the contract or its modification, deletion or termination. The competent notary in probate proceedings makes query of the Register in electronic form in order to inquire whether the deceased was a contracting party of a marriage contract. Should this be the case, the notary requires the transmission of the contract.

(Art. 36/K (3-5) and (10) of the Act XLV of 2008 on Certain Non-Litigious Notarial Procedures)

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

A marriage contract shall be considered effective against third parties if the contract is recorded in the Register, or if the spouses are able to prove that the third party was aware, or should have been aware that such contract existed, including its contents.

(Art. 4:65 (2) of the Civil Code)

Unless the contrary is proven, the Register attests with authenticity that the recorded contract exists.

(Art. 36/H (4) of the Act XLV of 2008 on Certain Non-Litigious Notarial Procédures)

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.]

A matrimonial contract concluded in a foreign state according to foreign law cannot be registered into the Register of Marriage and Partnership Contracts. In accordance with the Act XLV of 2008 on Notarial Non-Contentious Procedures only those matrimonial contracts can be registered which were drawn up in accordance with the Hungarian Civil Code.

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