Civil Code

TITLE V

OF ANTE-NUPTIAL AGREEMENTS AND OF MATRIMONIAL REGIMES Articles 1387 to 1581

(Antenuptial Agreements; Prenuptial Agreements; Marriage Contracts)

	Art. 1387        Legislation regulates conjugal association, with respect to property, only in default of special agreements, which the spouses may enter into as they deem proper, provided they are not contrary to public morals and to the following provisions.
	Art. 1388        Spouses may derogate neither to the duties and rights which result for them from marriage, nor to the rules of parental authority, statutory administration and guardianship.
	Art. 1389        Without prejudice to gratuitous transfers which may take place according to the forms and in the cases provided for by this Code, spouses may not make any agreement or waiver whose object would be to change the statutory order of successions.
	Art. 1390        They may, however, stipulate that, at the dissolution of the marriage by the death of one of them, the survivor will have the power to acquire or, should the occasion arise, to have allotted to him or her certain personal property of the first to die, on condition that he or she accounts for it to the succession, according to the value which they have on the day when that power is exercised.
	Art. 1391        An ante-nuptial agreement shall determine the property to which the power granted to the survivor will relate. It may fix methods of appraisal and terms of payment, except abatement in favour of beneficiary heirs where there is an indirect advantage.        Taking into account those clauses and failing an agreement between the parties, the value of the property shall be fixed by the tribunal de grande instance.
	Art. 1392        The power granted to the survivor lapses where he did not exercise it, by notice served upon the heirs of the predeceased, within a period of one month after the day when the latter gave him notice to come to a decision. That notice may not take place before the expiry of the period provided for in the Title Of Successions for making an inventory and deliberating.        Where served within that period, the notice generates a sale on the day when the power is exercised or, where appropriate, constitutes a process of partition.
	Art. 1393        Spouses may declare, in a general way, that they intend to marry under one of the regimes provided for by this Code.        In the absence of special stipulations derogating from the community regime or modifying it, the rules established in the first Part of Chapter II shall constitute the ordinary law of France.
	Art. 1394        All matrimonial agreements shall be drawn up in an instrument before notaire, in the presence and with the simultaneous consent of all the persons who are parties thereto or of their agents.        At the time of the signature of the agreement, the notaire shall deliver to the parties a certificate on unstamped paper and without costs, stating his name and place of residence, the names, first names, occupations and residences of the future spouses, as well as the date of the ante-nuptial agreement . That certificate shall state that it must be lodged with the officer of civil status before the celebration of the marriage.        Where the record of marriage mentions that an ante-nuptial agreement was not made, the spouses shall be, with regard to third parties, deemed married under the regime of general law, unless, in the transactions entered into with those third parties, they have declared that they made an ante-nuptial agreement.        [repealed by Ord. no 2005-428 of 6 May 2005]
	Art. 1395        An ante-nuptial agreement must be drawn up before the celebration of the marriage and may take effect only on the day of that celebration.
	Art. 1396        Amendments made in ante-nuptial agreements before the celebration of the marriage must be established by an instrument drawn up in the same forms. Furthermore, no change or counter-letter is valid without the presence and the simultaneous consent of all the persons who were parties to the ante-nuptial agreement, or of their agents.        Any amendments or counter-letters, even provided with the forms prescribed by the preceding Article, shall be without effect with respect to third parties, unless they were drawn up at the end of the original of the ante-nuptial agreement; and a notaire may deliver neither an executory nor an office copy of the ante-nuptial agreement without transcribing the amendment or counter-letter at the end.        After the celebration of the marriage, there may be no amendment to the matrimonial regime except by the effect of a judgment, either on the application of one of the spouses, in the case of separation of property or of other judicial protective measures, or on joint petition of both spouses, in the case of the following Article.
	Art. 1397        After two years of application of a matrimonial regime, either conventional or statutory, the spouses may agree in the interest of the family to amend it or even to change it entirely, by a notarial instrument, which shall be submitted to the approval of the court of their domicile.        All persons who were parties to the modified agreement shall be summoned in the proceedings in approval; but not their heirs, if they have died.        An approved change has effect between the parties from the judgment and, with regard to third parties, three months after mention of it has been entered in the margin of both copies of the record of marriage. However, even failing that mention, an amendment is effective against third parties where, in the transactions entered into with them, the spouses have declared that they have amended their matrimonial regime;        Mention of the judgment of approval shall be made on the original of the amended ante-nuptial agreement.        The application and the decision of approval shall be published on the terms and subject to the penalties provided for in the Code of Civil Procedure [...].        Where there has been a fraud on their rights, creditors may resort to a third party application for revocation of the judgment of approval in the way provided for in the Code of Civil Procedure.
	Art. 1397-1        (Act no 75-617 of 11 July 1975).-The provisions of the preceding Article shall not apply to the agreements entered into by spouses in the course of divorce proceedings with the view of liquidating their matrimonial regime.        Articles 1450 and"265-2" (Act no 2004-439 of 26 May 2004) shall apply to those agreements.
	Art. 1397-2 (Act no 97-987 of 28 Oct. 1997)        Where spouses specify the law applicable to their matrimonial regime under the Convention on the law applicable to matrimonial regimes, made in The Hague on 14 March 1978, Articles 1397-3 and 1397-4 shall apply.
	Art. 1397-3 (Act no 97-987 of 28 Oct. 1997)        Where the specification of the applicable law is made before the marriage, the future spouses shall present to the officer of civil status either the instrument through which they have operated that specification, or a certificate delivered by the competent person to establish that instrument. A certificate shall state the names and first names of the future spouses, the place where they are living, the date of the instrument of specification, as well as the names, qualifications and residence of the person who has established it.        Where the specification of the applicable law is made in the course of a marriage, the spouses shall have the measures or public notice relating to the specification of the applicable law made subject to the conditions and forms provided for in the new Code of Civil Procedure.        On the occasion of the specification of the applicable law, before the marriage or in its course, the spouses may specify the nature of the matrimonial regime they choose.        [repealed by Ord. no 2005-428 of 6 May 2005]
	Art. 1397-4 (Act no 97-987 of 28 Oct. 1997)        Where the specification of the applicable law is made in the course of a marriage, that specification takes effect between the parties from the establishment of the instrument of specification and, with respect to third parties, three months after the formalities of public notice provided for in Article 1397-3 have been fulfilled.        However, even failing fulfilment of those formalities, the specification of the applicable law is effective against third parties where, in the transactions entered into with them, the spouses have declared which law is applicable to their matrimonial regime.
	Art. 1397-5 (Act no 97-987 of 28 Oct. 1997)        Where a change in the matrimonial regime takes place in accordance with a foreign law which governs the effects of the marriage, the spouses shall have public notice made as provided for in the new Code of Civil Procedure.
	Art. 1397-6 (Act no 97-987 of 28 Oct. 1997)        A change of matrimonial regime takes effect between the parties from the judgment or from the instrument which provides for it and, with respect to third parties, three months after the formalities of notice provided for in Article 1397-5 have been fulfilled.        However, even failing fulfilment of those formalities, the change of matrimonial regime is effective against third parties where, in the transactions entered into with them, the spouses have declared that they have amended their matrimonial regime.
	Art. 1398        A minor having capacity to contract marriage has capacity to consent to all the agreements of which that contract is susceptible and the agreements and gifts he has made therein are valid, provided he had, in making the agreement, the assistance of all the persons whose consent is necessary for the validity of the marriage.        Where matrimonial conventions have been entered into without that assistance, the annulment thereof may be sued for by the minor or by the persons whose consent was required, but only up to the expiry of the year following the coming of age.
	Art. 1399        An adult in guardianship or curatorship may not enter into matrimonial conventions unless assisted, at the contract, by those who must consent to his marriage.        Failing that assistance, annulment of the agreements may be sought within the year of the marriage, either by the person under a disability himself, or by those whose consent was required, or by the guardian or the curator.
	Article 1387-1 (Act no 2005-882 of 2 Aug. 2005)        Where divorce is granted, if liabilities or securities have been created by the spouses, jointly and severally or separately, in the context of the management of a concern, the tribunal de grande instance may rule that the exclusive burden thereof shall be borne by the spouse who retains the professional assets or, failing which, the professional qualifications which served as a basis for the concern.