When a marriage is celebrated, a community of property (CoP) is created. It is a specific form of co-ownership that can arise exclusively between spouses and is governed differently from general co-ownership.
Shared ownership vs. community of property
As a result of inheritance proceedings, the dissolution of the community of property, a contract and other factors, you may become a co-owner of the property, i.e. not the sole owner. How is co-ownership then different from SJM?
The matrimonial property is not divided by shares, as a co-owner you are the owner of your share. The subject of co-ownership can be co-ownership of an apartment, a house, land, etc.
The community of property, as SJM can also be called, includes assets and debts, even the salary of both spouses, from the moment it is paid or credited to them.
On the other hand, the matrimonial property does not include items of personal use (clothing and toiletries), what one of the spouses has received as a gift or inherited (unless the gift or inheritance was expressly intended for both spouses), what one of the spouses has acquired as compensation for non-pecuniary damage, by a legal act relating to his/her exclusive property, or what he/she has acquired as compensation for damage, loss or destruction of his/her exclusive property.
