Marital Agreements as Property Separation Instruments from a Family Contract Law Perspective
Keywords:
family contract law, marital agreements, marital property separation, relational justice, contractual autonomyAbstract
The development of economic relations has expanded the function of marital agreements as instruments of marital property separation, yet contract principles have not fully explained the relational character of marriage. This study aimed to analyse the legal status of marital agreements from a family contract law perspective and formulate a framework for assessing the legitimacy of property separation. A descriptive qualitative method with a systematic literature review approach was employed to examine 80 articles published between 2018 and 2025. Literature was selected through the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses 2020 protocol and analysed descriptively and comparatively. The findings demonstrated that relational contractual legitimacy depended on informed marital consent, financial disclosure, relational bargaining equality, recognition of non-monetary contributions, and adaptive substantive fairness. Formally valid agreements could still generate inequality when changing circumstances and relational contributions were disregarded. This study developed the Relational Marital Property Contract model, integrating contractual autonomy, legal certainty, and relational justice as an analytical framework for notaries, judges, and policymakers in evaluating marital property agreements.
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