FINLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Pekka Tuunainen, Pekka Tuunainen Attorneys Ltd
Act allows for an adjustment to the division of proper ‑ ty. A distributor or court can adjust the outcome after considering the duration of the marriage, the activi ‑ ties of the spouses for their common household and for the accumulation and preservation of the property, and other comparable facts regarding the finances of the spouses. Adjustment of the division of property is an exception, and must be regarded as such. Most commonly, it is used when there is a short-term mar ‑ riage, normally one under five years, or when there is a significant difference of assets and those assets are not accumulated during the marriage. Both spouses must disclose all their assets and debts to the distributor. The distributor has limited resources to search assets, and has no power to give orders to disclose assets. This is somewhat problematic as it can be quite easy for parties to hide assets. In finan ‑ cial proceedings, the tax authority can disclose both spouses’ tax information on the request of one spouse or the distributor, which gives quite good insight into the parties’ assets and debts. Courts have legal power to give orders to disclose assets, but this is in prac ‑ tice non-existent, as it is still only up to the party to disclose assets – courts cannot make orders for dis ‑ closure to third parties. Not disclosing assets when asked to do so is considered a criminal offence (fraud). Courts have quite strict practice with such fraud, and can be sanctioned with more than two years’ impris ‑ onment in cases where significant amounts have not been disclosed fraudulently. This fact prevents asset hiding in most cases. Trusts are not recognised in Finland. However, if one spouse is a beneficiary in trust or if assets have been transferred into trust to avoid the division of marital property, the trust assets can be taken into consid ‑ eration. 2.4 Spousal Maintenance Spousal maintenance is recognised in legislation, but is used in very few cases in practice. During marriage it is mostly unknown, although it is possible by law. The main approach is that: • spousal maintenance duties are fulfilled during the course of the marriage as the spouses wish;
• spousal maintenance responsibilities are over after the breakdown of the marriage; and • it is up to each spouse to take care of their own needs – if needed, the social welfare system will support. Spousal maintenance is used mainly in divorce cases when the other party is from a foreign, low-income country and has no social network or job in Finland, with limited financial resources. In these cases, main ‑ tenance can be ordered until the division of property is finalised; if that does not suffice, maintenance can continue normally for a maximum of two years. The amount of maintenance is normally relatively low and is not determined by the standards of living during the marriage, although this can have some relevance. 2.5 Prenuptial and Postnuptial Agreements Prenuptial and postnuptial agreements are recog ‑ nised and must be followed by courts and distribu ‑ tors. Spouses may enter a marital property agreement either before they marry or at any time during the mar ‑ riage. This is quite a popular agreement because the Finnish marital property regime covers all assets, even those obtained before the time of marriage. Such an agreement must be made with the formali ‑ ties required by law (signatures and witnesses), but it is made solely privately. It is not possible to have a notarised prenuptial agreement. To make an agree ‑ ment valid, it must be registered with the local mag ‑ istrate. As said, agreements are strictly followed as a main rule. The law allows for the adjustment of a marital property agreement, but use of this legislation is very limited in practice, only being used in cases when an agreement can lead to an obviously unjustifiable or unreasonable result. To some extent, spouses’ finan ‑ cial needs can result in the adjustment of an agree ‑ ment that minimises the use of spousal maintenance. Courts adjust marital property agreements commonly in cases of long marriage where one spouse with no notable assets has made a significant effort in the household or worked without decent pay in a fam ‑ ily company and the other spouse has accumulated
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