The Slovak legal order does not recognise the institution of a prenuptial agreement. Any pre-marriage arrangements, agreements on future contracts or suspensive conditions aimed at regulating the community property of spouses (bezpodielové spoluvlastníctvo manželov, "BSM") after the wedding are regarded by the courts as absolutely invalid for circumventing the law. The only way to modify the property relations (to narrow or extend BSM, or to postpone its creation) is to conclude an agreement in the form of a notarial deed after the marriage has been entered into. A practical solution, however, is precise pre-marriage preparation of a draft agreement, which is signed immediately after the wedding.
Prenuptial agreements are, in many countries, a common tool for regulating the property relations of future spouses. The Slovak legal order, however, does not yet recognise this institution. The legislation currently in force allows the community property of spouses (bezpodielové spoluvlastníctvo manželov, "BSM") to be modified only in the ways expressly laid down by the Slovak Civil Code.
Under § 143a of the Slovak Civil Code, spouses may, after entering into marriage, conclude three types of agreements:
These agreements must take the form of a notarial deed. Their purpose is to define the scope of the property that belongs to BSM, or conversely does not. For the settlement on divorce, what matters above all is whether, as a result of the agreement, a particular asset entered BSM or was excluded from it.
The Slovak Civil Code allows the court, on the application of an entitled party, to dissolve the community property of spouses during the marriage, in the cases laid down by law, either mandatorily or at its discretion. When BSM is dissolved by the court during the marriage, the community property ceases to exist prospectively and must be settled (by agreement or by the court) in the same way as if the marriage had ended in divorce. Property acquired after the dissolution of BSM is acquired by each spouse as their exclusive property, or jointly as fractional co-ownership. During the marriage, the court may restore BSM on the application of one of the spouses under § 151 of the Slovak Civil Code, if the grounds for which it was dissolved have ceased to exist. If that does not happen, this original BSM is no longer revisited after the later end of the marriage (divorce).
Slovak law in the area of BSM is mandatory (cogent) – it does not allow future spouses to regulate their property relations before the marriage comes into existence. Agreements under § 143a of the Slovak Civil Code can be concluded only after the wedding.
It follows that:
pursue the same goal – they attempt to substitute for a prenuptial agreement. The prevailing legal theory as well as court practice therefore regard them as absolutely invalid for circumventing the law (§ 39 of the Slovak Civil Code). In a 2025 decision, the Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic confirmed that agreements whose purpose is to affect the scope of BSM before it comes into existence are contrary to the legislation and produce no legal effects.
Some authors accept that a contract concluded before the marriage, whose effectiveness is tied to entering into marriage, may be formally valid, since the legal effects arise only after the marriage comes into existence. This, however, is a minority view. The problem lies in the very purpose of the contract: if it is meant to ensure that a particular asset does not belong to BSM even though it should under the law, this amounts to circumventing mandatory rules. Even this type of agreement is therefore, in practice, assessed as invalid.
In practice, attempts appear to conclude a so-called "quasi-prenuptial agreement" as an innominate contract under § 51 of the Slovak Civil Code.
If a property transfer takes place on the basis of an invalid agreement (e.g. a transfer of money or assets), it is performance without legal cause and gives rise to a claim for the return of unjust enrichment.
Given the diversity of property arrangements, the rising divorce rate and social developments, it is clear that demand for prenuptial agreements exists. Until the legislation changes, however, future spouses cannot regulate their property relations before the wedding. Valid agreements on BSM can be concluded only after entering into marriage, and exclusively in the ways laid down by the Slovak Civil Code.
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