20 August 2026
On 4 March 2025, the Arnhem-Leeuwarden Court of Appeal gave a judgment illustrating how complex the division of personal injury compensation can be in divorce proceedings.
This case (ECLI:NL:GHARL:2025:1292) highlights how complicated the financial settlement of a divorce can be, even when compensation is, in principle, regarded as private property.
In 2014, a woman was involved in a serious traffic accident. She received personal injury compensation of approximately € 350.000,-. At that time, she was married under the statutory community of property regime. Eight years later, in 2022, the parties jointly filed for divorce.
During the divorce proceedings, a dispute arose regarding the extent to which the compensation formed part of the marital community. The parties agreed that an amount of € 164.870,- should be considered verknocht property. Verknochtheid means that an asset is so closely connected to one person that it falls outside the marital community. This may apply, for example, to compensation for non-material damage, such as pain and suffering.
The dispute concerned the remaining amount of € 185.130. At the time of the divorce, only € 20.000,- of this amount remained. The rest, € 165.130,- had been spent during the marriage on joint expenses. The woman argued that the entire amount formed part of her private property and that she therefore had a claim against her former husband. Her husband disputed this.
The court of appeal considered that only the portion that could still be demonstrably identified, € 20.000,- in this case, fell outside the division of the marital community and therefore remained the woman’s private property. The remaining € 165.130,- had been spent during the marriage on joint expenses and could no longer be individually traced.
According to the court, the personal character (verknochtheid) had effectively been lost through the mixing of the funds with joint expenditures. The woman’s claim was therefore dismissed.
According to Dutch law, the ‘old’ marital community of property generally includes all present and future assets of both spouses, unless the law explicitly provides otherwise. One important exception concerns assets that are considered to be verknocht to one of the spouses. Such assets fall outside the marital community insofar as their nature prevents them from being included in the community.
Compensation for non-material damage, such as pain and suffering, is generally regarded in case law as verknocht. However, the judgment of the Arnhem-Leeuwarden Court of Appeal confirms that this personal character has limits.
Compensation may in some cases fall outside the marital community of property, for example when it is considered verknocht. However, this only applies to the portion that can still be demonstrably identified. Once the funds have been spent on joint expenses, they are deemed to have been absorbed into the marital community and lose their personal character.
This ruling emphasises the importance of handling compensation payments carefully during a marriage. Even if (part of) the compensation has a strictly personal character, that character may be lost once the funds are used for joint expenses.
Would you like clarity about your legal position in the context of a (potential) divorce involving compensation payments? Please feel free to contact one of our family law specialists. We will be glad to advise you.
Reference: Court of Appeal Arnhem-Leeuwarden, 4 March 2025, ECLI:NL:GHARL:2025:1292.
