my friend has a complicated scenario and would like to ask for advice.

she and her husband planning to buy a house but they dont have enough down payment, her father offers to help but because its a big amount of money so she wants to know better, what happen if they divorce later,

1. Since her father giving the money as a gift after their married, is it still belongs to my friend after divorce?

2. Because she uses this money to buy a house, she is not sure whether she has to spilt 50/50 eventually.

3. what happen if they borrow the money as a loan from her father? would it make a difference? But her father also thinks that after he pass away, then her husband also no need to return the money so the husband still own 50% of it.

We borrowed our deposit from my father. He wrote a contract which said we were both liable for paying him back and we both had to sign it.

I think this is only reasonable solution.

her father actually has no intention for them to return the money as long as they both stay marriage. he just wants to protect her daughter in case anything happen, she still has money as she is not working here.
by signing something like you do, in reality is that they wont be able to return this amount for sure, so the loan will last forever, the worse scenario is the divorce say 20 years later after her father die, but then the husband has no liability to return the money anymore as the lender is already passed away.

Thats why she looks for advice if gift is better option or not?

Have him gift it as INHERITANCE.

Inheritance belongs only to her, normal gifts do not.

Tom

#1son and his wife 'borrowed' a small percentage of their deposit from the wife's parents. This money will be treated as part of her inheritance when her parents die; her brothers have also received monies over the years for various reasons, all being recorded as 'advanced against inheritance'.
In case of divorce (I hope not, they've got four kids!) the borrowed money will become part of the wife's share of proceeds if/when the house is sold. If either of them dies before her parents the money will be treated as part of her estate and will eventually pass to the children.

Both my son's wife and her father are accountants so should they know what they're doing but I'm pretty sure there's a notarised document in place covering what happens if/when.
I'd suggest OP's friend takes legal advice about this due to the amount involved.

I'm not sure what the rules are here but if it's a "what#s mine is yours" system like in many other countries (UK for example) then the money becomes both of your when given to one of you. This is often a problem when one want to leave money to one person but not their partner. The solution seems to be not to be married! From a couple of divorce cases I've known about in Switzerland it seems as if there might be an opportunity at divorce time to negotiate on the financial split.

Jointly or severally? What happens if your partner runs off with all the money?

Unless it is inherited, in which case it belongs solely to the heir (as Anjela and I both mentioned)

Tom

Erbvorbezug would be the german expression afaik.

Thanks our posts crossed. The question I would have is when does a gift become inheritance? Otherwise *every* gift from a parent could be seen as an advance on inheritance. Maybe that's the case. In fact, couldn't every gift to anyone be considered as an advance on inheritance, if that person is in the will.
If the money is given as a gift in advance of death and one of the partners subsequently dies, the money is likely to then go to the other partner.
I would suppose also that a loan (which is a loan not a gift) only becomes an inheritance when legally due because of death. If one of the partners were to die then the other would still be liable to repay the money.

It has to be declared as such.

Such gifts are then deducted from the final tab, a friend's parents did this with their children (5).

Also, advance inheritance is void if the inheritor dies first, i.e. the money must be given back (unless their are children, then not).

Tom

Exactly this. My boyfriend's ex-father in law gave his daughter the money for their down payment as inheritance. When they later divorced, that portion remained fully hers and she just paid him half the portion he had contributed to.

Regardless of the receiving of the money. They would then put it into the house which I assume they plan to own 50/50. If she wants to keep that money, I guess they’d have to own different percentages of the house? And I still don’t know how that works in divorce.

Easy:

They each get back whatever each put in as a down payment, then split the rest.

Tom

Interesting question indeed- hope someone with legal expertise comes to explain this clearly.

Yep. It's called "Erbvorbezug" (as OP is in Basel) and here is info on how it's handled.

just go to a lawyer and write a prenup

I have just found this article from moneyland - inheritances and gifts received by one spouse during the marriage remain in that spouse's possession after divorce. Does it true? as some others said only inheritances counts.

What happens to my assets when I divorce?

That depends on whether or not you have created a marital agreement. In the default matrimonial property regime (you have no marital agreement), property and assets held by each person ahead of getting married remains their property after divorce. Inheritances and gifts received by one spouse during the marriage remain in that spouse's possession after divorce. All other assets acquired during your marriage are divided equally between both parties.

If dividing your assets with your ex-spouse is not an option, consider creating a notarized marital agreement prior to divorcing which specifies another marital property regime

Any money put into the house which was gained during the marriage is to be shared.

So let's say they are married 5 years. Hubby saved up money during those 5 years, working, and puts that in the house. 200K
Wife saved up 30k the same way, puts it in the house. Plus "Erbvorbezug" 200K.

The only "safe" money to get back in full for her is the 200K Erbvorbezug.
The rest is 50/50.

But it is seriously not as complicated as some seem to think.