The marital community
Upon marriage, the couple forms what is known as a marital community. This means that each spouse is jointly responsible for the financial security of the other. In addition, the spouses can often represent each other.
Joint responsibility does not apply to exclusively personal debts, as each spouse is solely liable for their own debts and only with their own assets. Both spouses can only be held liable for the debts of the married couple – i.e. tax debts, health insurance debts or loans and contracts that were concluded jointly or in the interests of the family living together.
Tax advantages
The tax disadvantages already mentioned must be put into perspective, because in addition to the well-known “marriage penalty”, there is also a “marriage bonus”. Under certain circumstances, married couples are subject to a lower tax rate than single people. This applies, for example, in cases where one spouse contributes significantly more to the joint income than the other. The “marriage penalty” only applies to married couples with high incomes (annual salary per spouse between CHF 75,000-125,000).
Advantages under inheritance law
There are also advantages under inheritance law: if one of the spouses dies, the surviving spouse is the legal heir under Art. 462 of the Swiss Civil Code and is therefore better protected. Taxes on inheritances are also lower for surviving spouses than for cohabiting partners, as the latter are not considered family members in many cantons. In addition, the survivor receives a survivor’s pension and survivor’s benefits from the first pillar (AHV). Cohabiting partners, on the other hand, receive nothing from the first pillar. It is also not possible to benefit each other by means of a will. In addition, unlike cohabiting couples, spouses automatically benefit from each other’s pension contributions – however, the benefits in terms of AHV contributions and pensions only become most apparent after retirement.
Advantages under tenancy law
There are also advantages and certain protective mechanisms in the area of tenancy law. For example, the tenancy agreement for the family home must be terminated jointly by both spouses. The same applies to the sale of a jointly owned home.
Conclusion
It remains to be said that getting married can still be worthwhile from both a romantic and financial point of view. However, the biggest losers in financial terms are probably those couples where both spouses earn high incomes.