{"id":15945,"date":"2026-05-05T18:55:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T16:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quercus-rc.be\/?p=15945"},"modified":"2026-05-05T19:00:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T17:00:48","slug":"quelle-difference-entre-le-mariage-et-la-cohabitation-legale-belgique","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quercus-rc.be\/en\/2026\/05\/05\/quelle-difference-entre-le-mariage-et-la-cohabitation-legale-belgique\/","title":{"rendered":"Which is the difference between marriage and legal cohabitation in Belgium"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Which is the difference between marriage and legal cohabitation in Belgium<\/p>\n

Formalities<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2022<\/span> Marriage: a solemn ceremony before a civil registrar; strict requirements (legal capacity,\nabsence of impediments).<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/span> Legal cohabitation: a simple written declaration to the local municipality; also available to\nindividuals who are not in a couple (e.g., parent\/child).<\/p>\n

\u2022 Duty of fidelity, support, and assistance.<\/p>\n

Marriage<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2022<\/span> Duty of fidelity, support, and assistance.<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/span> Obligation de contribuer aux d\u00e9penses du mariage en fonction des moyens de chacun.<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/span> \u2022 Very strong protection of the family home: no major decisions without the consent of both\nspouses, even if only one is the owner.<\/p>\n

Legal cohabitation<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2022<\/span> Obligation of mutual support and contribution to the expenses of shared living, but no duty\nof fidelity.<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/span> Protection of the family home similar to marriage: the agreement of both is required to sell,\nmortgage, or terminate a lease.<\/p>\n

Assets and debts<\/b><\/p>\n

Marriage<\/i><\/p>\n

\u2022<\/span> By default: statutory regime \u2192 community of acquisitions (income and property acquired\nduring the marriage are shared).<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/span> Option to choose a prenuptial agreement (separation of property, universal community of\nproperty, etc.).<\/p>\n

Legal cohabitation<\/i><\/p>\n

\u2022<\/span> Complete separation of assets: each partner retains ownership of their own property.<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/span> Only minimal obligations: contribution to living expenses and protection of the family home.<\/p>\n

Taxation<\/b><\/p>\n

Marriage & Legal cohabitation<\/i><\/p>\n

\u2022<\/span> Joint tax return.<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/span> Access to the spousal allowance if one partner has little or no income.\nDe facto cohabitation (for comparison)<\/p>\n

Cohabitation de fait (\u00e0 titre comparatif)<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/span> Separate tax returns.<\/p>\n

Separation<\/b><\/p>\n

Marriage<\/i><\/p>\n

\u2022<\/span> Requires a divorce (mutual consent or legal proceedings).<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/span> Possibility of spousal support between former spouses.<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/span> Ends by:<\/p>\n

o<\/span> joint or unilateral declaration to the municipality,<\/p>\n

o<\/span> marriage,<\/p>\n

o<\/span> death.<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/span> No alimony between former cohabitants.<\/p>\n

Rights in the Event of Death<\/b><\/p>\n

Marriage<\/i><\/p>\n

\u2022<\/span> Automatic Inheritance Rights:<\/p>\n

o<\/span> usufruct over the family home and its furnishings,<\/p>\n

o<\/span> more extensive rights depending on the presence of children.<\/p>\n

Legal cohabitation<\/i><\/p>\n

\u2022<\/span> Only automatic right: usufruct of the family home and its furnishings.<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/span> No rights to other assets \u2192 a will is essential to further protect your partner.<\/p>\n

Survivor\u2019s pension<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2022<\/span> Reserved for married individuals.<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/span> Legal cohabitants are not entitled to it.<\/p>\n

Summary<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2022<\/span> Marriage offers the most comprehensive protection: assets, inheritance, survivor\u2019s pension,\nfinancial solidarity, and housing protection.<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/span> Legal cohabitation is an intermediate solution: housing protection and minimal organization\nof shared life, but no community of property or extended inheritance rights.<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/span> For legally cohabiting partners, a will is often essential to ensure equivalent protection.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Quelle diff\u00e9rence entre le mariage et la cohabitation l\u00e9gale (Belgique) Formalit\u00e9s \u2022 Mariage : c\u00e9r\u00e9monie solennelle devant un officier d’\u00e9tat civil ; conditions strictes (capacit\u00e9 juridique, absence d’emp\u00eachements). \u2022 Cohabitation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103368777,"featured_media":15950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6424],"tags":[6462,6464,6463,6391,6465],"class_list":["post-15945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fiscalite","tag-cohabitation","tag-cohabitation-legale","tag-cohabitation-simple","tag-fiscalite","tag-mariage"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/quercus-rc.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/pexels-photo-31757195.jpeg?fit=1880%2C1252&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgPayC-49b","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quercus-rc.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quercus-rc.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quercus-rc.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quercus-rc.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/103368777"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quercus-rc.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15945"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/quercus-rc.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15945\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15949,"href":"https:\/\/quercus-rc.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15945\/revisions\/15949"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quercus-rc.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quercus-rc.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quercus-rc.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quercus-rc.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}