The new Dutch default community of acquests regime: key innovations from a comparative perspective

Prior to 2018, the default matrimonial property regime in the Netherlands was a universal community property regime. As a consequence of a substantial reform that took effect on 1 January 2018, the Dutch default regulation now limits the content of the community property to the assets acquired non-gratuitously during the marriage. This contribution presents an overview of the key innovations of the new Dutch default community of acquests regime, with a particular focus on the content of the community property and the rights of creditors. In order to gain insights from a comparative perspective, the Dutch regulation is compared with the default community of acquests regimes from Belgium and France. This article demonstrates that the principal characteristics of the new Dutch regime are comparable to those of the Belgian and French regimes. Most fundamentally, the Dutch regime now excludes premarital assets and debts, as well as assets and debts related to inheritances and gifts, from the community property. However, the new Dutch regime also exhibits more unique characteristics. These include, most notably, the inclusion of assets that jointly belong to the spouses prior to the marriage in the community property and the limitation of the recoverable basis for creditors of separate debts. These characteristics may serve as a source of inspiration for community property regimes in other jurisdictions.