Marriage Contract/Prenuptial Agreement

Sorry no experience with that, what's mine is his and what's his is mine expect for my grand mothers ring, he can have it all at any time. The ring is going to my great-niece if my son doesn't have a girl before my niece turns 21... He has another decade to go.
I will say though that if you are going to go that way, divide things up before marriage it is a good idea to get a lawyer and a good one.
In HU it is automatic that a spouse gets 50% of any property on the death of their spouse, children get to share the other 50% if there are any.
I was worried for a bit because my US son married a HU women and has been divorced for a long time.
They divorced in the US but as he is a HU citizen and a US citizen and they married in HU, I thought God forbid if my husband and I drop dead and she and her mom get more out of us... They got more then they deserved as it was.
Anyways, did some research in Hungary and all is good, done with that bad mistake...
You need it all done legally and probably in Hungarian.
Shouldn't be too hard to find a family law lawyer here.

ktferments wrote:

could anyone suggest a lawyer who specializes in family law?

The US Embassy has a lit of lawyers in Hungary:

https://hu.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-se … attorneys/

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

.....
In HU it is automatic that a spouse gets 50% of any property on the death of their spouse, children get to share the other 50% if there are any.
....

Yes that's right but as far as I remember this only applies to immovable property in Hungary - it's very clear in the legal text that inheritance in Hungary takes precedence over all others.  Immovable property is taken to mean land and buildings but not boats, planes and cars.

In other words, I could leave my Hungarian house via an American written will to say, Brad Pitt.  Hungarian law will however override my bequest to Brad and Mrs Fluffy and the Fluffyettes will get the house according to the formula Marilyn said.

It's not the same in other countries as HU.  I could leave my UK mega-business and all its property to Brad with no problem.  And it would be acceptable.   It can be challenged in courts if I was considered bonkers at the time. 

So depending on your risk attitude, then either own property outright in your own name or half and half.  Or own it through a company.  Or don't actually get married. Or something else a lawyer advises.

I think its the same in France as it is in Hungary kids are automatically left something and can not be written out. Is there inheritance tax in HU?

Hey @ktferments, were you able to figure this out? Would love to hear some feedback in regards to this!

Cheers!

Oh...It's been almost a year and I didn't know anyone replied to this!  We did find a lawyer here in town and we used an interpreter who just happened to be my and my husband's boss (kind of awkward, but it's a small town and everyone knows everyone else's business anyway).  The lawyer used a standard marriage contract form and we answered her questions on how to divide things.  Basically, my husband and I wanted to do this to protect me in the event a close family member of his passes away with debt and the family has to repay the debt.  This has happened before to him and he's been stuck paying off family debt.  This is how I learned that here in Hungary, your debts don't die with you.  We thought it best for our situation to keep me as separate from that as possible.

And now we are starting the process of buying a house...and a whole different kind of lawyer is needed, but fortunately, we already have a reference for a lawyer and an interpreter who is not my boss.  :-)

ktferments wrote:

Oh...It's been almost a year and I didn't know anyone replied to this! ...

Something has gone wrong with notifications via e-mail - either slow or non-existent.

One has to look at the web site more or less every day to see if anyone replied.

ktferments wrote:

Basically, my husband and I wanted to do this to protect me in the event a close family member of his passes away with debt and the family has to repay the debt.  This has happened before to him and he's been stuck paying off family debt.  This is how I learned that here in Hungary, your debts don't die with you.

You're not forced to inherit the debt, you either accept or reject everything, both debt and assets. So that wasn't his real motivation. Your husband is a smart man.