Family and Succession Law in Cape Verde

In the event of cessation of the marital union that meets the requirements established by law and which has not been subject to registry recognition, either party may request the court of their residence to guarantee:

• The right to food
• The right to share in common assets, in accordance with the supplementary assets regime (communion of acquired regime), as would apply to him in the event of divorce.
• The right to live in the family’s home, with minor children of the couple under their care.

Since the aforementioned rights expire three years after the date of cessation of the de marital union, always taking into account that the cohabitant who contracts marriage or establishes a new marital union loses the right to food.

Separation of assets and divorcee

Judicial separation of persons and property is the cessation of community of life and property between the spouses, which does not extinguish the marriage bond. Divorce can be requested to the competent court, by both spouses, by mutual agreement, this being a divorce by mutual consent. A litigious divorce may be requested by one of the spouses based on the occurrence of facts that constitute an essential violation of marital duties that seriously compromise or make it impossible their life in common or the upbringing of the children. The request for divorce by mutual consent or separation of persons and assets can be addressed to the civil registry office if, in this case, the couple does not have minor children, or if there are any, the exercise of the respective parental authority is already judicially regulated.

Partitions and inventorie

Any co-heir or sharecropper spouse has the right to demand sharing whenever he/she sees fit. Inventory is a process that takes place after the death of a person. Thus, it is during this process that the survey of all assets left by the deceased occurs. In addition, it can be judicial or extrajudicial.

Wills

A will is the unilateral and revocable act by which a person disposes, for after death, of all or part of his/her property. All individuals who are not declared incapable of testing by law may test.