Division of Property Acquired in Marriage in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Author: Azur Prnjavorac, Attorney at Law, Bar Association of the FBiH  |  Last updated: 19 September 2026  |  Legislation and case law verified as of 19 September 2026.

What is marital property, and what is separate property?

Marital property is the property that the spouses acquired through work during the marital union, together with the income from that property, while separate property is everything a spouse owned before the marriage or acquired during the marriage on a basis other than work, above all by inheritance and gift. This distinction is the same in all three legal territories of Bosnia and Herzegovina: in the Federation of BiH it is governed by Art. 250 to 254 of the Family Act of the FBiH (Official Gazette of the FBiH nos. 35/05, 41/05, 31/14 and 32/19), in Republika Srpska by Art. 301 and 302 of the Family Act of the RS (Official Gazette of the RS nos. 17/23, 27/24, 20/25 and 61/25, in force since 1 September 2023), and in the Brčko District by Art. 227 to 231 of the Family Act of the Brčko District of BiH (Official Gazette of the BD no. 23/07), which calls the same concept "marital acquisition" (bračna tekovina). All three statutes are available on this website in Bosnian.

Marital property includes salaries and savings, real estate and vehicles bought during the union and shares in companies, and gambling winnings and income from intellectual property earned during the union are marital property too. On gifts from third parties the entities differ: in the Federation of BiH and the Brčko District a gift made during the union enters the marital property regardless of which spouse received it, unless the purpose of the gift or the circumstances show that the donor wanted to give it to one of them only (Art. 251 para. 2 FA FBiH, Art. 228 para. 2 FA BD), whereas in Republika Srpska a gift, including a dowry, like an inheritance, is the separate property of the spouse who received it (Art. 301 para. 2 FA RS). The Family Act of the RS goes a step further and expressly provides that income from the separate property of one spouse, if earned by the work of either of them, is joint property, with the owner of the separate property entitled to compensation for its use (Art. 302 para. 5).

Two things are decisive in practice. First, what matters is the duration of the marital union, not of the marriage: the union is presumed to last until the marriage ends, but a spouse may prove that it de facto ended on a certain day, so that whatever was acquired afterwards is no longer joint (Supreme Court of the FBiH, 17 0 P 096393 23 Rev of 19 December 2023 and 68 2 P 011956 23 Rev of 30 January 2024). Second, the land register entry does not decide: real estate acquired through work during the union is marital property even where only one spouse is registered as owner (Supreme Court of the FBiH, 42 1 P 008916 17 Rev of 8 January 2020), and the other spouse may request correction of the entry under the Land Registry Act of the FBiH (Art. 252 para. 3 FA FBiH). Conversely, a house completed before the marriage was concluded is not marital property merely because the spouses lived in it (Supreme Court of the FBiH, 23 0 P 050963 22 Rev of 5 September 2023).

The courts have also treated as marital property assets acquired under a contract of lifetime support concluded during the marriage, although only one spouse was the provider of support. The Supreme Court of the FBiH reasons that the support was provided by the work or income from work of both spouses, with an exception where it was paid from the provider's separate property (58 0 P 065705 16 Rev of 26 April 2018), while the Supreme Court of the RS reasons that it is a bilaterally onerous contract performed at the expense of the joint property (85 0 P 111930 24 Rev of 18 February 2025). With a company it is the share that is divided, not the company, so the claim must be directed at the share (Supreme Court of the FBiH, 55 0 P 005788 24 Rev of 18 February 2025); a share in a limited liability company acquired during the union with funds earned by the work of both spouses is their co-ownership in equal parts, regardless of who is entered in the court register (Art. 252 para. 1 FA FBiH; first-instance judgment of the Municipal Court in Sarajevo of 5 May 2025; more on the page company shares and withdrawal of a member).

Is property acquired in marriage always divided in half?

In the Federation of BiH and the Brčko District yes: the spouses are co-owners of the marital property in equal shares unless they agreed otherwise in a marital contract (Art. 252 para. 1 FA FBiH, Art. 229 para. 1 FA BD), and the court has no power to award more than one half to either of them. The Supreme Court of the FBiH has expressly held that the amount, duration, type and monetary value of work do not affect the ratio of the co-ownership shares (20 0 P 034549 18 Rev of 3 December 2019) and quashed a judgment in which the second-instance court had determined different ratios without clear reasoning (65 0 P 693899 23 Rev of 18 April 2024). Litigation in the FBiH is therefore not about the size of the shares but about what is marital property at all and what is separate property.

In Republika Srpska the starting point is the same, each spouse is entitled to one half, but either of them may ask the court to determine a larger share by proving that his or her contribution to the acquisition was greater (Art. 309 paras. 1 and 2 FA RS). The court looks not only at earnings but also at the help of one spouse to the other, work in the household, care for the children and every other form of contribution (Art. 309 para. 3), and a larger share in an individual right may be determined only if that right is economically independent and the spouse invested in its acquisition also income from his or her separate property (Art. 309 para. 4). The burden of proof lies on the spouse who claims more than one half, because the presumption of equal shares is rebuttable but applies until rebutted (Supreme Court of the RS, 79 0 P 003925 23 Rev of 15 May 2024). A spouse whose share is considerably smaller, or where special circumstances justify it, may ask to be paid out in money according to the value of the property on the day of the judgment (Art. 309 para. 5). The new Act also applies to property acquired before 1 September 2023 (Art. 342 FA RS), while cases in which no final decision had been rendered by that date, as well as proceedings resumed after an earlier final decision is set aside, are completed under the former Family Act of the RS (Art. 343 and 344 FA RS).

Investment in the other spouse's separate property does not create co-ownership but a monetary claim. A spouse who during the union invested in a house or land that is the other's separate property is entitled to compensation for what was invested, not to a co-ownership share (Cantonal Court in Bihać, 18 0 P 046437 23 Gž of 7 December 2023), and a claim in rem succeeds only where the investment brought about economically significant changes in the condition and value of that property (Supreme Court of the FBiH, 39 0 P 060375 22 Rev of 24 January 2023). The Family Act of the RS regulates this expressly in Art. 301 paras. 5 and 6. Where property was acquired in a wider family household, with the parents of one spouse, the spouses' total share against the other household members is first determined according to actual contribution, and only that share is then divided between the spouses under the rules on marital property (Supreme Court of the FBiH, 36 0 P 046094 21 Rev of 25 April 2023; Supreme Court of the RS, 85 0 P 086429 23 Rev of 11 April 2024).

How is marital property divided amicably?

The fastest and cheapest route is a contract on the division of marital property, which the spouses may conclude both during the marriage and after it ends (Art. 255 para. 1 FA FBiH, Art. 306 and 307 FA RS, Art. 232 FA BD). It may determine each spouse's share in the whole property or in individual assets, allocate particular assets or rights to each of them, provide for payment of the monetary equivalent of a share, for sale and division of the proceeds, or for a combination of these methods (Art. 307 para. 2 FA RS; in the FBiH and the Brčko District the same follows from freedom of contract). A further advantage is that one deed may cover real estate in different entities and cantons, which is impossible in court proceedings; if it includes real estate in Republika Srpska, the whole contract is concluded as a notarially processed deed.

The form depends on where the real estate is located. In Republika Srpska every legal transaction on the property relations of spouses and extramarital partners, including the division agreement, must be notarially processed, otherwise it is void (Art. 307 para. 3 and Art. 336 FA RS, Art. 57 para. 1 item 1 and para. 3 of the Notarial Service Act of the RS). In the Federation of BiH mandatory notarial processing of contracts between spouses no longer exists: Art. 73 of the Notaries Act of the FBiH, which prescribed it, was struck down by the Constitutional Court of the FBiH in judgment U-15/10 of 2 December 2015, and by judgment U-22/16 of 6 March 2019 Art. 53 para. 2 of the Real Rights Act of the FBiH on the form of transfer of rights in real estate and Art. 258 para. 2 FA FBiH on the form of the marital contract ceased to apply with effect from 16 November 2019. The division contract is therefore concluded in writing, and for registration in the land register the signatures of the parties must be certified by a notary or by the court (legal opinion of the Supreme Court of the FBiH, 70 0 Dn 009610 22 Spp of 8 December 2022, adopted for all contracts transferring rights in real estate). Notarial processing remains available at the parties' choice and makes sense where the contract contains an obligation to pay a specific amount, because with the debtor's express consent to direct enforcement it becomes an enforceable instrument (Art. 90 of the Notaries Act of the FBiH). In the Brčko District the Family Act prescribes no special form for the division contract (Art. 232 FA BD), while the marital contract must be drawn up and certified before the competent authority or notarially processed (Art. 235 para. 2 FA BD); a division contract transferring rights in real estate is in practice notarially processed for registration purposes. How this works in practice is explained on the page representation before a notary.

A good division contract contains a precise list of the assets with land register designations, the shares or allocation of assets, who takes over the loan and how this is arranged with the bank, the deadline for handing over possession, a clause permitting registration and the allocation of costs. Whatever the contract does not cover remains marital property with shares of one half each and may be claimed later (Supreme Court of the FBiH, 32 0 P 316532 23 Rev of 7 December 2023).

Relations may also be arranged in advance by a marital contract, on entering into the marriage or during it (Art. 258 para. 1 FA FBiH, Art. 314 FA RS, Art. 235 para. 1 FA BD). In Republika Srpska the marital contract must be notarially processed, the fact of its conclusion is entered in the public register of real estate registered to one or both spouses, and the contract is deposited in the Central Register of Marital Contracts kept by the Notarial Chamber of the RS (Art. 315 and 316 FA RS); it may also stipulate that everything one spouse acquires during the marriage is his or her separate property (Art. 319). In all territories the spouses may not agree on the application of foreign law to their property relations (Art. 260 FA FBiH, Art. 317 FA RS, Art. 237 FA BD).

How does judicial division of marital property proceed?

Where there is no agreement, a spouse files an action for determination of the marital property and of his or her share. Where the subject matter is real estate, the court in whose territory it is located has exclusive jurisdiction (Art. 42 of the Civil Procedure Act of the FBiH, with identical rules in the RS and the Brčko District), while for money, vehicles and company shares general territorial jurisdiction at the defendant's residence applies. This is why an apartment in Tuzla and a house in Bijeljina require two proceedings, before the Municipal Court in Tuzla and the Basic Court in Bijeljina, and only a contract offers a single solution. The action may be brought by either spouse and by a creditor of either of them (Art. 255 para. 2 FA FBiH, Art. 232 para. 2 FA BD; Supreme Court of the FBiH, 17 0 P 085897 24 Rev of 12 March 2024), and in Republika Srpska also by the heirs of a deceased spouse and by a creditor of the spouse from whose separate property the creditor could not be satisfied (Art. 308 para. 1 and Art. 328 para. 3 FA RS).

1. Gathering evidence. Land register extracts and possession sheets, purchase contracts, loan agreements and bank confirmations of repayment, payslips and account statements, evidence of funds brought into the marriage or inherited, building permits and construction invoices, an extract from the court register for company shares, and witnesses who can confirm who acquired what and how.
2. Action and registration of the dispute. The action is filed with the competent court and at the same time a note of the dispute is requested in the land register, which prevents a third party who later buys or mortgages the real estate from being protected by the principle of reliance on the land register. Where necessary, an interim measure prohibiting disposal is also requested.
3. Main hearing and expert evidence. The court establishes what is marital property, what is separate property and, in the RS, the contribution of each spouse; a construction expert is engaged for the value of real estate and investments and an economic expert for company shares. The question of marital property may also be a preliminary question in another action, for instance on the nullity of a contract by which the marital property was disposed of (Supreme Court of the FBiH, 51 0 P 156118 21 Rev of 20 January 2022).
4. Judgment, registration and partition. The judgment determines co-ownership and orders registration in the land register. If the co-owners still cannot agree on how to divide the apartment or house physically, either of them may seek partition of the co-ownership in non-contentious proceedings: physical division or, where that is impossible or possible only with a considerable loss of value, sale and division of the proceeds in proportion to the shares (civil partition), and only if the sale fails too, award of the asset to one co-owner against payment of its market value to the other (Art. 37 and 38 of the Real Rights Act of the FBiH, Art. 37 and 38 of the Real Rights Act of the RS). Where the court orders division by sale, the spouse in the FBiH and the Brčko District has a right of pre-emption (Art. 257 FA FBiH, Art. 234 FA BD); in the RS that right exists where the sale of an asset from the joint property is ordered in enforcement proceedings to satisfy one spouse's share (Art. 313 FA RS).

There is no deadline for filing the action: the right to division of joint property is not subject to limitation, although this does not exclude the rules on acquisitive prescription (Art. 308 para. 2 FA RS, Art. 37 para. 1 of the Real Rights Acts of the FBiH and the RS; as a general principle for any co-ownership also Supreme Court of the FBiH, 63 0 P 004422 11 Rev of 19 March 2013). Monetary claims between spouses, however, such as compensation for investment in separate property or recourse for a repaid loan, are subject to limitation, although the limitation period for recourse does not run while the marriage legally exists, regardless of an earlier de facto separation (Supreme Court of the FBiH, 41 0 P 102637 26 Rev of 5 May 2026), and for a spouse who is registered as owner and possesses the real estate in good faith the limitation period for compensation for investment starts to run only when the other spouse challenges his or her ownership by an action (Cantonal Court in Zenica, 39 0 P 066967 23 Gž of 4 January 2024). Evidence weakens with time, so it is reasonable to start proceedings as soon as agreement fails.

The costs comprise the court fee according to the value of the dispute, expert evidence and lawyer's fees under the Attorney Tariff of the FBiH, and the court allocates them according to success in the dispute, because the determination of marital property is a property dispute and not a status dispute (Cantonal Court in Zenica, 36 0 P 057110 22 Gž of 29 April 2022). A simple case with one property and orderly documentation ends within a few months, while cases with several properties, company shares, expert reports and assets in different entities last for years, which is why a settlement is attempted continuously even during litigation.

Who is liable for debts and loans from the marriage?

For debts that one spouse had before the marriage the other is not liable, while for obligations undertaken to meet the current needs of the marital and family union both spouses are jointly and severally liable, with both the marital property and their separate property (Art. 261 and 262 FA FBiH, Art. 328 and 329 FA RS, Art. 238 and 239 FA BD). In Republika Srpska, on division, each spouse's share is expressly charged with a proportionate part of what is owed on the basis of joint acquisition, including claims of third parties arising from the increase or maintenance of the joint property, even where they burden only one of them (Art. 312 FA RS), and a spouse who paid more than his or her part of the debt has a right of recourse (Art. 330 FA RS); in the FBiH and the Brčko District the same result follows from the rules of the law of obligations on joint and several debtors and recourse.

A loan taken to buy or build joint real estate is a burden on the marital property regardless of who signed the agreement with the bank. The Supreme Court of the FBiH has confirmed that the unpaid part of the loan after the union ends is borne by both spouses in equal parts (22 0 P 045880 21 Rev of 7 February 2022) and that a former wife, although she did not sign the loan invested in the joint real estate, is jointly and severally liable for that obligation, so that a co-debtor who repaid the loan has a right of recourse against her (53 0 P 076309 25 Rev of 18 February 2025). A spouse who alone repays the remainder of the loan after the union ends does not obtain a larger share, but the right to be reimbursed by the other in proportion to that spouse's co-ownership share, one half where the shares are equal (Supreme Court of the RS, 71 0 P 166009 20 Rev 2 of 16 February 2021; Supreme Court of the FBiH, 41 0 P 102637 26 Rev of 5 May 2026).

The relationship with the bank is a separate matter: the division contract binds the spouses between themselves, but the bank continues to collect from the signatory of the loan. The contract therefore regulates who takes over repayment, and towards the bank an assumption of debt is carried out by a contract between the spouses to which the bank consents (Art. 446 of the Law on Obligations); only then does the existing debtor leave the obligation, and until the bank consents the contract operates merely as an assumption of performance between the spouses. Accession to debt (Art. 451 LO), which is concluded between the bank and the spouse taking over repayment, does not release the existing debtor but merely adds a new joint and several debtor. Without the bank's consent the spouse released "on paper" remains the bank's debtor and can only claim recourse from the other for what he or she paid.

How is the property of extramarital partners divided?

Property that extramarital partners acquired through work in their union is divided under the same rules as marital property if the union meets the statutory conditions. In the Federation of BiH this is a union of life between a woman and a man who are not married or in an extramarital union with another person, lasting at least three years or less if a common child was born in it (Art. 3 and 263 FA FBiH); in the Brčko District the conditions are the same (Art. 5 and 240 FA BD). In Republika Srpska it has been sufficient since 1 September 2023 that a union without marital impediments has lasted at least two years, or less if a child was born in it (Art. 13 and 333 FA RS), and the rules on the return of gifts also apply to extramarital partners.

The difference from marriage lies in proof: while in marriage the duration of the union is presumed, an extramarital partner must prove the beginning, duration and content of the joint life. Beyond that, the same applies as in marriage: it is not enough that something was bought during the union, it must be proved that it was acquired by joint work, a position the Supreme Court of the RS took for marital acquisition and which applies to extramarital unions in the same way (89 1 P 030646 24 Rev of 30 July 2024). Where real estate is registered to one partner, the other seeks a declaration of co-ownership by action in the same way as a spouse.

May one spouse sell or gift joint property without the other?

No. In Republika Srpska a spouse may not independently dispose even of his or her own share in the joint property, except in favour of the other spouse (Art. 303 para. 4 FA RS), and may dispose of real estate that is joint property, even though registered only in his or her name, only with the other spouse's consent: a transaction without consent is void except towards an acquirer in good faith, in which case the injured spouse claims from the other, at his or her choice, the market value or the value actually obtained (Art. 305 FA RS). The family home, the real estate in which the parents and their minor children live, if it is joint property, may not be alienated or encumbered during the marriage without the other spouse's consent given in the form of a notarially processed deed, and a transaction to the contrary is void regardless of the third party's good faith (Art. 338 FA RS); if the other spouse refuses consent without good reason, the court may replace it by a decision in non-contentious proceedings (Art. 341 FA RS). In the Federation of BiH and the Brčko District the spouses are co-owners with one half each and the rules of property law apply (Art. 253 FA FBiH, Art. 230 FA BD): without the other's consent a spouse may dispose neither of the other's co-ownership share nor of the whole property, such a transaction is void in the part relating to the other spouse's share, subject to protection of an acquirer in good faith who relied on the land register (Art. 9 of the Land Registry Act of the FBiH), whereas consent may also be given tacitly or by conclusive conduct and need not be in writing (Supreme Court of the FBiH, 42 1 P 015526 21 Rev of 20 May 2022).

The case law protects the injured spouse after divorce too. A gift of real estate to the donor's mother, made after the divorce without the consent of the former wife who had invested in the construction, is void as to one half (Supreme Court of the FBiH, 23 0 P 031484 20 Rev of 4 November 2021); a sale of joint property to the parents' company far below value and without handover of possession, shortly before the union broke down, was found to be a sham contract (Supreme Court of the RS, 90 0 P 053936 25 Rev of 14 May 2025); and where one spouse spends the joint savings on a car for himself, the other claims a declaration of marital property in the car, not in the spent money (Supreme Court of the FBiH, 23 0 P 048962 23 Rev of 5 November 2024). The best protection is nevertheless preventive: a note of the dispute in the land register immediately with the action. Gifts that the spouses made to each other are, in the RS, not returned if customary, while gifts disproportionately large in relation to the donor's entire property at the time of the claim are returned in the event of divorce or annulment, unless this would be manifestly unjust to the recipient or would put him or her in serious financial difficulty (Art. 331 FA RS).

What are the differences between the Federation of BiH, Republika Srpska and the Brčko District?

The basic rules are the same; the differences that decide in practice concern the possibility of a larger share, the form of the contract and the duration of an extramarital union. The table summarises the state of the legislation as of the date of this update:

Whatever the legal territory, a division contract is regularly faster and cheaper than litigation and is the only way to settle real estate from different entities in one deed. The judicial route remains for cases in which the other spouse denies that the property is joint or disposes of it without consent.

What if the spouses live abroad?

Only a court in Bosnia and Herzegovina may decide on real estate in BiH, because disputes on ownership and other real rights in real estate fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the domestic court. A court settlement on the division of marital property concluded before a foreign court, in the case in question an Austrian one, is therefore no bar to litigation on that real estate before a court in BiH (Supreme Court of the FBiH, 23 0 P 050577 23 Rev of 21 May 2024), and a foreign judgment on the division of real estate in BiH cannot be recognised if the other party objects (Supreme Court of the RS, 16 0 V 001322 22 Gž of 16 February 2022). Divorce, maintenance and custody may be concluded before a foreign court, but for effect in BiH that decision must go through the procedure for recognition of a foreign court decision; the rules on the applicable law are explained on the page private international law.

A client from the diaspora does not have to come to BiH. The division contract and the action are prepared remotely, and the client merely certifies a power of attorney for the lawyer at a BiH embassy or before a foreign notary, with an apostille where required; the lawyer attends the hearings, the notary and the land registry office as attorney-in-fact. In this way the firm regularly represents clients from Germany, Austria and Switzerland before the courts in Tuzla, Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Bijeljina, Brčko, Mostar, Zenica and other cities, in Bosnian, German and English.

Sources and case law on this topic

The statutes and court decisions linked below are published on this website in Bosnian.