German Matrimonial Law Treats Crypto in Divorce Through Accrued Gains Equalisation

Under German family law, spouses undergoing a divorce do not automatically split their individual cryptocurrency tokens. Under the statutory matrimonial property regime of the community of accrued gains, assets owned by one spouse remain individual property rather than becoming joint holdings, as set out in Section 1363 paragraph 2 of the German Civil Code.

The process instead calculates the financial gain accumulated during the marriage and equalises that growth as a monetary claim. If a spouse purchased bitcoin prior to the marriage, that ownership remains intact. An exception applies only to assets acquired jointly, such as shared exchange accounts or wallets where both parties hold keys, which are governed by standard property law.

The accrued gain calculation relies on statutory benchmarks, beginning with the initial assets defined under Section 1374 of the Civil Code at the start of the matrimonial regime. This framework dictates disclosure rules, the allocation of price volatility risk between key dates and settlement, and the points at which transfers could trigger taxable disposals under the Income Tax Act.