Rubrica · Now what?

The land came from the in-laws. The couple built the house. Who owns the property?

8 October 2026 · Sara Pontes · 4 min read

The in-laws gave the land. The couple built the house. The divorce made the maths complicated.

The case

Land

Given by the parents to one of the spouses, before the marriage.

House

The family home, built by both on that land, during the marriage, with joint money.

Property regime

Community of acquired property (comunhão de adquiridos).

For years, the question may never come up. The house is lived in as “ours”, the loan instalments are paid jointly and the decisions about the build are made jointly too.

The problem arises when the marriage ends and the couple's assets have to be divided. If the land belonged to only one of the spouses, but the house was built by both, who actually owns the property?

First plot twist: the land is not part of the division

Let us assume the couple married under the community of acquired property regime. This is the default regime: as a rule, it applies when no other property regime was chosen (Article 1717 of the Portuguese Civil Code).

Under this regime, whatever each spouse already owned before the marriage remains their separate property.

So if the parents gave the land, before the marriage, to only one of the spouses, it does not become joint property simply because the couple married. It remains the separate property of the person who received it, under Article 1722 of the Civil Code.

So far, the answer seems simple. But then a house was built, during the marriage and with joint money.

Second plot twist: the house is separate property too

For a long time, the courts took different views on this situation. On the one hand, the land was separate property. On the other, the house had been built during the marriage, with joint money or assets.

Supreme Court of Justice Ruling No. 9/2025 standardised the case law on this question:

“A building (the family home) erected by two spouses married under the community of acquired property regime, with joint money or assets, on land belonging to one of them, is a new thing that is the separate property of the spouse who owns the land, and it gives rise to a compensation credit of the joint estate against the estate of the owner of the new thing, with a view to restoring the balance between the estates.”

This means that the land and the house become, in legal terms, a single property, belonging to the person who already owned the land.

The house is therefore not split into two parts when the assets are divided.

So does one spouse end up with no house and no money?

Not so fast. The money the couple invested does not disappear.

The fact that the property is separate property does not mean that everything the couple invested is ignored. The joint estate acquires a compensation credit against the separate estate of the property's owner.

This compensation is meant to restore the balance between the estates, taking into account the amount the couple invested in the build and the benefit that investment brought to the owner's separate estate.

In other words: ownership is one thing. Settling the accounts in the division of assets is another.

A word of caution: it should not be assumed, without any calculation or evidence, that the compensation automatically equals half of the house's current value. The amount has to be determined in light of the specific circumstances and the available evidence.

Which documents may matter?

In these cases, it is essential to look at, among other things:

• the title under which the land was acquired or donated;
• the date of the acquisition or donation;
• the couple's matrimonial property regime;
• the land registry records;
• the building licences and other construction documents;
• the loan agreements;
• the invoices and proof of payment for the works;
• the bank statements;
• where the money came from;
• the value of the land and of the construction;
• any valuations of the property.

Without these documents, it can be much harder to prove how much the joint estate actually invested.

The moral of the story

Paying for the build together does not necessarily mean owning half of the property.

Before you pick the tiles, make sure you know who owns the ground.

Who owns the land, the property regime, where the money came from and how the investment was made can all significantly change the outcome of the division of assets. Each situation should therefore be assessed individually, in light of the documents available and the couple's actual financial circumstances.