On 29^th January 2019 two new regulations, the Council Regulation (EU) 2016/1103 of 24^th June 2016 and the Council Regulation (EU) 2016/1104 of 24^th June 2016 came into effect. These regulations intend to end the parallel and possibly conflicting laws in different member states of the European Union in terms of property rights of matrimonial regimes and registered partnerships. The aim is to clarify the rules applicable to property rights for international married couples or registered partnerships in terms of jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition and enforcement of decisions.

Only 18 of the 28 member states decided to apply the new regulations:

• Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland and Sweden.

The new regulations aim to:

• Allow international couples to choose the law that will be apply to their property in case of death or divorce;
• Clarify which will be the national court competent to resolve disputes that may arise from the management of the common property of the international couples and from the sharing in case of divorce and death;
• Clarify, in the case of regulations of several countries being applicable to one situation, what will be the prevailing national law;
• Facilitate the recognition and enforcement, in one member state, of a judicial decision on property matters, issued in another member state, without the need for any further procedure.

The member states, who have not joined this new regulation, will continue to apply their respective national rules and have the possibility to join this new regulation at any time.