Who owns what in a marriage in Madagascar?

Many francophone countries took the French code's idea of a legal regime, often a community of what is acquired during the marriage, and let the spouses choose another regime at the wedding. Some codes now make separation of property the default. Customary and Islamic marriages follow their own rules.

Under a community regime the joint property is divided between the spouses, and under separation of property each takes their own. The court can also take account of each spouse's contribution.

In the civil-code tradition the spouses can choose their regime before the wedding, usually by a notarial deed.

Property from before the marriage, gifts and inheritances generally stay personal.

The country has its own rules on which law governs a marriage and its property. Get local advice if one spouse is a foreigner, if the couple live abroad, or if the marriage was celebrated under customary or religious law.

• In customary and Islamic marriages a man may in some countries have more than one wife, which changes how property is shared; a civil marriage is monogamous. Which kind of marriage a couple have therefore matters more than anything else.

Madagascar belongs to the Civil law family. Family law grows out of the legal tradition, so it helps to know how the system works.

Read the Madagascar legal-system profile in the Legal Families Atlas →
Can a foreigner buy property in Madagascar? →

• JuriGlobe, University of Ottawa: world legal systems
• World Bank: Women, Business and the Law (country data on marriage and property)