Divorce: who owns the house built on land exclusively owned by one of the spouses?

A divorce process, in addition to having a direct emotional impact on the people involved, can also be a real headache in bureaucratic terms, with direct consequences, for example, on the real estate assets owned by the former couple. One example: after the divorce, who owns the house built on land that belongs exclusively to one of the spouses? We answer with legal grounds.

Relying on the law, Miguel Cunha Machado, founding partner of Dower Law Firm, explains that a recent ruling has been issued — the Uniform Jurisprudence Judgment no. 9/2025, of 10 September (Official Gazette no. 174/2025, Series I) — which expressly addressed this issue: situations in which the family home is built by both spouses during the marriage, under the regime of community of property acquired after marriage, using common money or assets, on land that belongs exclusively to one of them.

What was the outcome of the ruling? The Supreme Court of Justice (STJ) unified case law by determining that the house built in this way constitutes a new asset that is the exclusive property of the spouse who owns the land, the lawyer explains. “That is, the ownership right over the land also extends to the building erected on it, meaning that the right of ownership covers the entirety of the new asset created,” he notes.

“Consequently, in order to restore patrimonial balance, the other spouse — through the couple’s common assets — is entitled (only) to financial compensation for their contribution to the construction of the house,” he adds.

The expert recalls that the issue of “joint construction on exclusive property” had given rise to significant divergence in the courts, with this decision now putting an end to the debate.

Here is the summary of the cited ruling: “The building erected (family home) by two spouses, married under the regime of community of property acquired after marriage, with common money or assets, on land exclusively owned by one of them, constitutes a new asset that is the exclusive property of the spouse who owns the land and gives rise to a compensation credit of the common estate over the estate of the owner of the new asset, with a view to restoring patrimonial balance.”

By way of conclusion, Miguel Cunha Machado notes that, with this judicial decision, any couple that builds its family home on land belonging exclusively to one of the spouses now knows the regime applicable to the division of assets in the event of the dissolution of the marriage.

“However, despite the unification of case law, other practical aspects remain that require case-by-case consideration in order to fully clarify the parties’ rights in a future and potential division of assets,” he warns.