How to calculate accrued gains and the equalization of accrued gains in Germany

Most married couples in Germany live under the statutory matrimonial property regime, unless they have suspended this regulation in a marriage contract. The default statutory matrimonial property regime in Germany is the so-called "community of accrued gains" or "Zugewinngemeinschaft." This basically means a separation of assets during marriage. That is, each spouse keeps the assets brought into the marriage on the wedding day for herself/himself. With this system, the accrued gains of the spouses are equalised upon divorce. When a marriage ends under the property regime "community of accrued gains," there is a right to compensation for gain. This means that the joint wealth acquired during the marriage is divided between the two spouses following a divorce.

The value increase of these assets is taken into account by using the consumer price index (CPI) (indexing). If the accrued gains of one spouse is negative, it is marked as zero. This may be possible since under the "community of accrued gains," debts also remain separate. The delivery of the divorce petition terminates the "community of accrued gains." A divorce contract provides the possibility to fix this ending date differently.

This accrued gains calculator may not take into account all cases. Also, the valuation of individual assets can be disputed. For a precise calculation that does take into account your individual circumstances, search for a family lawyer in a German city using our lawyer directory or please contact bilingual English-speaking family lawyer:

For each spouse, enter the year, month, and initial assets as of the date of marriage, as well as the year, month, and final assets as of the date the petition for divorce was served. Privileged acquisitions that the law does not consider as accrued gains, i.e. inheritances or donations defined according to § 1374.2 BGB) must also be keyed in along with their year and month of reception. Initial assets or gifts may be entered in either euros (€) or German marks (DM). The result is always displayed in euros (€).

Understanding the equalization of accrued gains:

When a marriage and thus the matrimonial property regime is terminated, a payment to balance out accrued gains (also known as equalization of surplus) can be claimed. First, the accrued gains for each spouse are calculated individually. Accrued gains are the difference between the final assets on the date of delivery of the divorce petition and the initial assets on the wedding day. Initial assets are separate assets brought by each spouse into the marriage on the wedding day. Final assets are the property owned by a spouse after having deducted all payables.

For marriages before 1958 in former West Germany or 1990 in former East Germany:

The statutory matrimonial property regime known as the "community of accrued gains" was introduced by law in the Federal Republic of Germany on 01.07.1958. Following the German reunification, the matrimonial property regime became statutory in the new federal states as of 03.10.1990. For marriages that took place in the Federal Republic of Germany before 1958 or in the new federal states before 1990, the initial CPI is taken from the year 1958 or 1990 respectively.

Donations during marriage according to BGB §1374 (German Civil Code):

Assets received by a spouse (such as inheritance, donations, or endowments) after the start of the matrimonial property regime are added to initial assets after deduction of payables. The increase in assets is called a privileged acquisition and is regulated in BGB §1374 para. 2 (German Civil Code). These supplementary donations are not added to the accrued gains and are thus not taken into account when calculating the accrued gains.

Indexing in the Calculation of Marital Gains:

In this marital property equalization calculator, inflation is taken into account on a month-by-month basis (indexation) when calculating the initial assets and gifts, using the Consumer Price Index (CPI). It should be noted that, when calculating marital property gains, family courts base their indexation not only on the year and month but also on the specific dates of the marriage and divorce.