RELATIONS IN MARRIAGE WITH RESPECT TO PROPERTY RIGHTS

Sa？etak As a family law institute, marriage produces personal legal and property relation effects and the right and the duty of both spouses referring to mutual support that has the elements of both personal and property consequences of marriage. This paper is focused on the legal arrangement of property relations between spouses in Croatian law. The first part of the paper gives a brief overview and analysis of the historical development of legal arrangements referring to property relations between spouses. Firstly, we analyse the regulation of property relations between spouses in Roman law as the cornerstone of contemporary legislation of the continental European legal circle. Then we discuss the arrangement of matrimonial property relations during socialism, because in this historic period some major changes took place which, in the context of the legal issue in question, have left the mark to this day. The second part of the paper discusses the modern family law arrangements of property relations between spouses in Croatian law. This section first analyses the principles on which property relations of married couples are regulated. Croatian family law recognises two systems of property relations in marriage, i.e. legal and contractual. The paper discusses and gives a critical overview of both systems. Special attention is paid to the problem of the management of marital property, in particular the matter of alienation of a property that is considered to be marital property in situations where only one spouse is registered as a property owner in the land registry. Some concluding remarks on valid legal regulations are given at the end of the paper, as well as the author’s views on the problems caused by the existing system in court practice. Finally, guidance for further research is also provided