By Yolanda Bokhorst
You must be wondering: what’s the connection between the words in the title? I can assure you; more than you would expect. Allow me to explain.
When you buy a house without having the amount of the purchase price, expenses and taxes in your bank account, you will need to arrange a loan with a bank. And because the bank does not necessarily have confidence in the fact that you will be able to repay your loan, they will ask for some form of surety – being a mortgage right on the house you will be buying. Furthermore, the bank will first thoroughly check your personal situation, such as: how much income you earn, whether you are married, what your career perspectives are, whether there are any other financial obligations, etc.
Non-Dutch expats who live abroad, get married abroad and then move to the Netherlands (with or without a family), are – in most cases – not automatically covered by Dutch matrimonial property law. But – then which matrimonial property law applies? Does the foreign law also contain community of property or do the spouses retain their own property after marriage? Did the spouses draw up a prenup abroad? And how do third parties in the Netherlands – take, again, the bank issuing the mortgage – know what has been arranged pursuant to this foreign law?
For the full article go to The XPat Journal December 2019 online Issue
