Who owns what in a marriage in the United Kingdom?

In England and Wales, each spouse owns what is in their name and there is no automatic shared ownership, though the family home has protections. In Scotland, the same holds during the marriage, but the matrimonial property is shared at the end.

In England and Wales the court has wide discretion and considers the spouses' needs, the children and the contributions of each, starting from an equal sharing of the assets built up during the marriage in many cases. In Scotland, the matrimonial property acquired during the marriage is shared fairly, usually equally.

Pre-nuptial agreements are not automatically binding in England and Wales, but courts may give them considerable weight if they were fair and made with proper advice. Scotland treats them in a similar way, subject to fairness.

Property from before the marriage, gifts and inheritances may be treated differently from property built up during the marriage.

The UK is outside the EU Matrimonial Property Regulation. Courts apply their own law, and a foreign spouse can start a case in England and Wales on several grounds, so where a case is brought matters.

• Northern Ireland has a separate system of its own, close in approach to England and Wales.

The United Kingdom belongs to the Common law family. Family law grows out of the legal tradition, so it helps to know how the system works.

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

• GOV.UK: money and property when a relationship ends