Registration of an agreement on the expiration of marital rights to property
If the spouses have not made a prenuptial agreement, their marital rights to property remain after the end of the marriage. Marital rights to property will no longer be retained indefinitely, but will expire within a certain time limit. This is due to a legislative amendment that entered into force on 1 June 2026. The validity of marital rights to property can be extended with an agreement.
The agreement concerning the expiration of marital rights to property must be submitted for registration to us or to the State Department of Åland. Without registration, the agreement will not be valid.
In a marriage or a registered partnership, the spouses have marital rights to each other’s property. Marital rights to property mean that both spouses have the right to obtain half of the spouses’ combined property.
If the other spouse owns more when the marriage or registered partnership ends, they must hand over some of their property as an adjustment to the spouse that owns less. This way, the property can be divided evenly.
Marital rights to property may be ruled out in whole or in part by means of a prenuptial agreement.
When do marital rights to property expire?
- Marital rights to property expire ten years after the decision on divorce was issued or the marriage was annulled.
- Marital rights to property will not expire if the marriage ends with the death of a spouse.
The spouses may agree on a longer period of validity. The agreement must be concluded and registered before the end of the ten-year time limit.
If the marital rights to property expire and no division of property of the spouses has been carried out,
- the spouse or the spouse’s heir is no longer obliged to hand over an adjustment
- the former spouse is no longer a shareholder in the estate of their former spouse.
Marital rights to property will not expire but remain if the marriage ends with the death of one of the spouses.
When a marriage ends due to a divorce or annulment, marital rights to property expire in ten years. The expiration can be prevented with an agreement.
The expiration of marital rights to property is interrupted if a spouse or a spouse’s estate applies to a court for an estate distributor for the division of property. If the application expires and no division of property is carried out, the time taken to process the application is not included in the calculation of the time limit.
You can use the services of a lawyer, a public legal aid office or other lawyer with the required expertise when preparing the agreement on the expiration of marital rights to property. The Digital and Population Data Services Agency cannot help in the preparation of the agreement.
To be valid, the agreement on the expiration of marriage rights to property must be:
- in writing
- dated
- signed
- witnessed by two disinterested witnesses, and
- registered with the Digital and Population Data Services Agency.
However, the witnesses only need to certify the authenticity of the signatures, and they do not need to be present when the document is signed.
You are disqualified as a witness if the person concluding the agreement on the expiration of marital rights to property is, for example,
- your current or former spouse or cohabiting partner
- your sibling
- your parent
- your child
- family member of one of the above.
The witness must be aged 15 or over and understand the significance of witnessing.
The Digital and Population Data Services Agency does not comment on the content of the agreement.
In other words, you must ensure that the content and form of the agreement on the expiration of marital rights to property sent to us are expedient. The Digital and Population Data Services Agency does not verify the impartiality of the witnesses or otherwise check the content of the agreement or any formal errors.
Please, note as well that the registration does not correct formatting errors. It is therefore possible that a registered agreement may not be valid if it contains other formal errors.
You can apply for registration of the agreement once the decision concerning the end of the marriage has become legally valid. The registration must be applied for no later than 10 years after the date of the decision on the annulment of the marriage.
Please note that we must have received the registration request before the expiration of the time limit. If you request registration after the marital right to property has expired, we cannot register the agreement even if it has been drawn up and signed in time.
Marital rights to property expire within a certain period of time. After that, you can no longer carry out a division of property or extend the validity of the rights with an agreement.
The agreement must be registered before the marital rights to property have expired:
- If your marriage ended on or after 1 June 2021, marital rights to property expire 10 years after the date of the final decision on the divorce or annulment of the marriage.
- If your marriage ended before 31 May 2021, marital rights to property will expire no later than 31 May 2031.
The expiration of marital rights to property is interrupted if a spouse or a spouse’s estate applies to a court for an estate distributor for the division of property.
Do the following
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1. Draw up a written agreement on the expiration of marital rights to property
When preparing it, you can use the services of a lawyer, a public legal aid office or other lawyer with the required expertise. Unfortunately, the Digital and Population Data Services Agency cannot help in the preparation of the agreement.
Make sure that your dates of birth have been entered correctly in the agreement, the document is dated and both spouses have signed it. Ask two disinterested persons to certify the authenticity of your signatures.
Make sure that you have a high-quality photo, a PDF file or a paper copy of the agreement. Please do not provide us with the original documents, as we will destroy the documents you submitted after they have been scanned.
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2. Print out and complete the application for the registration of the agreement
If you use an agent, they need a power of attorney to apply for registration. However, a power of attorney is not required if the agent is an attorney, a public legal counsel or a licensed legal counsel.
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3. Send the application
Send the application and a copy of the agreement either by email or by post. Use secure email to ensure that the information sent is in encrypted format. Select [email protected] as the recipient in the secure email.
You can also send the application and a copy of the agreement by post to the address below.
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4. We will send you a certificate of registration
In addition, we will send the invoice separately. The invoice cannot be received as an email.
Price
In 2026: EUR 87.
We will send the invoice on a separate letter after registering the prenuptial agreement. Read more about invoicing.
Processing times
An agreement on the expiration of marital rights to property
- 8 weeks
Other agreements
- 12 weeks
How to obtain a document:
You will receive a certificate of registration from us once your application has been processed.
We will send the certificate to Suomi.fi Messages. This way, you will get it as soon as possible. If you do not have access to the service, you will receive the certificate by letter. When submitting your application, you can also choose to receive the documents by encrypted e-mail.
Check that all your details have been entered correctly.
We send the invoice separately. We will not return copies of the documents delivered to us.
Frequently asked questions
No. You must draw up the agreement yourselves and submit it to us for registration.
No. Siblings, parents, children or other persons that are comparable to a partner or a family member cannot certify the authenticity of the signatures.
A notary public working for us may act as a witness for the agreement. Not all service locations can provide two notaries public to act as witnesses.
Book an appointment with a notary public in our reservation system. Please tell us in your reservation how many notaries you will need as witnesses. A fee is charged for certifying the authenticity of the signatures. If you want us to provide both witnesses, we charge EUR 72 (4 x EUR 18) for the service.
No. Under the law, the agreement on the expiration of marital rights to property must be signed with a pen.
You will usually need a power of attorney when acting on behalf of another person. Please attach the power of attorney to your application.
However, you do not need a power of attorney if you are a guardian of a minor, a lawyer, a licensed legal counsel or a public legal aid attorney.
Yes. See the "Do the following" section for instructions for sending.
You do not need to submit the registration request together. Either one of you can also submit the request alone.
Yes. Only a registered agreement is valid.
The Digital and Population Data Services Agency can only register an agreement prepared in Finnish or Swedish.
You can sign an agreement drawn up in both Finnish or Swedish and in some other language.
If your agreement is in a language other than Finnish or Swedish, it must be translated by an authorised translator before the agreement is sent to us for registration.
Using an agent is not obligatory. The agent is the person who takes care of the registration of the agreement on your behalf. The lawyer who has drawn up your agreement can also serve as the agent.
The agreement becomes valid once it has been registered.
Yes. Request a copy by email from [email protected].
Contact us
Please use secure email if your message contains personal or otherwise confidential information. Choose [email protected] as the recipient.
Telephone
Telephone service number is 0295 535 690
Service hours: Mon–Fri 9–15
The call and the waiting time will cost you the local and mobile rates agreed with your operator.
Postal address
Digital and Population Data Services Agency, P.O. Box 1003, FI-00521 Helsinki