The Financial Impact of Getting Married in Switzerland

Baptiste Wicht | Updated: 16 May 2026 |

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You just got married or are about to get married? Congratulations! Marriage is a wonderful thing.

But did you know that many things are going to change? For instance, your taxes will be filed commonly, and some of your retirement benefits will change.

While marriage should not be about money, it is important to learn about the financial impacts of getting married in Switzerland. In this article, we will go over everything that changes after we get married in Switzerland.

Marriage and taxes

When you are married, you only fill out one tax declaration and only receive one set of bills. With this joint taxation model, the two incomes are added together, and the two sets of deductions are also added together, creating a single taxable income. The same holds true for the wealth tax, with both wealths added together to get a single taxable wealth.

Since this model is different from the model for two unmarried persons, taxes can change after marriage:

Usually, a couple with two incomes will pay more in taxes after marriage
A couple with a single income will generally pay less in taxes

Since this system penalizes married couples with two incomes, several couples actually did not get married for that reason.

This penalization of marriage is about to change. In 2032, Switzerland will switch to an individual taxation system. It means that starting from January 1st, 2032, married couples will pay the same taxes as unmarried couples. It also means that they will stick to filing two tax declarations, like they did before marriage.

Marriage and insurance

Only a few things are changing related to insurance when you get married.

Unfortunately, each spouse still pays his health insurance premiums, and there is almost no difference in prices. You can sometimes get a small family deduction if you bring up multiple premiums at the same provider, but these deductions generally only run for a single year.

On the other hand, some other insurance can be done as a couple. For instance, household legal protection insurance is much cheaper than having two legal protection insurance policies. And the same is true for household insurance and personal liability insurance.

So, you may save a little money on insurance after getting married, but not much.

Marriage and children

The rules regarding parental authority change after getting married.

Married spouses automatically have joint authority over the children of the households. This is different from unmarried couples where the mother has the authority by default unless the two parents enter an agreement to have joint authority.

Marriage and retirement

When you are married, many things will change for your retirement. Indeed, there is an impact on each of the three pillars of retirement in Switzerland.

If one of the spouses does not work, they may not have to pay the minimal first pillar contribution. If the working spouse pays more than twice the minimum, the contribution of the non-working spouse is waived. This can save some couples about 500 CHF per year.

Since you are married, each spouse is automatically entitled to a survivor’s pension in case the other spouse dies. This is true for the first and second pillars.

One remaining disadvantage of marriage in Switzerland is that the first pillar is limited to 150% of a full pension. This means that if you were both entitled to a full pension, you would get 200% of a full pension when not married and only 150% when married.

The third pillar limit is not increased by marriage. Each spouse still keeps the same yearly limit. If only one spouse works, only one 3a account can be used.

It is worth mentioning that the first and second pillars are not treated as assets (under the matrimonial regime) in case of a divorce.

In such a case, the contributions of the first pillar during the marriage will be pooled together and shared equally (a process known as AVS/AHV splitting).
For the second pillar, the sum of both pillars will be shared equally between both spouses. This is a fair rule but can result in significant gaps for the higher-earning spouse in case of a divorce.
The third pillar is treated as an asset (check the next section for details).

Matrimonial regimes

Assets and debts are considered differently but are both handled based on your matrimonial regime.

Marriage and assets

When you get married, your assets before and during the marriage are treated differently. This will depend on the matrimonial regime you have chosen. There are three matrimonial property regimes:

Participation in Acquired Property. This is the default regime. In this case, all assets acquired before marriage remain the property of their original owner. Then, all assets acquired during the marriage are considered common in case of a divorce.
Separation of Property. In this case, all assets belong exclusively to one of the spouses; everything is separated. And there is nothing to split in case of a divorce.
Community of Property. Under this regime, all assets are pooled together, whether they are acquired before or during the marriage. In case of a divorce, everything is split equally.

Only the Participation in Acquired Property regime applies automatically without a formal marital agreement. It is also possible to make a custom regime with a marital agreement that will need to be signed by a notary.

In most cases, people are fine with participation in acquired property, but there are some cases where people want a special agreement. And in any case, it is important to know about this if you want to know what could happen in the sad event of a divorce.

As mentioned in the previous section, the third pillar accounts are counted as an asset, but not the first and second pillars.

Marriage and debts

Just like assets, there are rules for who is responsible for debts. Again, this depends on the matrimonial regime:

Under the Community of Property regime, both spouses are responsible for the entirety of debts, whether they are contracted before or during the marriage.
Under the Separation of Property regime, each spouse is only responsible for his own debt.
Under the Participation of Acquired property, the rules are a bit more complicated. Debts acquired before the marriage are only the responsibility of the person who contracted the debt. During the marriage, debts acquired for the benefit of the family are shared (for instance, a sofa for the family).

In all three cases, debts related to common household expenses, like taxes and health insurance, are the responsibility of both spouses.

Marriage and inheritance

Married spouses are automatically considered an heir in case of inheritance.

So, if the other spouse dies, the survivor will generally inherit most of the estate (depending on children). This is also protection because the other spouse cannot prevent this inheritance. This means a spouse cannot legally be fully disinherited. The minimum legal inheritance is 50% of what the spouse would have gotten.

For instance, if there is a spouse and a child, each should receive 50% of the estate. So, the minimum that the spouse can legally receive is 25% of the total estate (50% of 50%).
If there are no children but surviving parents, the spouse should generally receive 75% of the estate. The legal minimum would be 37.5% in this case (50% of 75%).

Another difference is that inheritance between two married spouses is tax-free. This would not be the case for unmarried couples, and it could make a significant difference in estate planning.

Marriage and citizenships

While it is not directly related to finances, it is worth exploring what changes for citizenships with marriage.

If a non-citizen gets married to a citizen, it makes it easier for the non-citizen to get citizenship. However, it is not automatic and still takes time. After 3 years of marriage and 5 years of Swiss residency, the non-citizen spouse can apply for citizenship.

In addition to being faster, the process is also simpler because it skips the municipality level. Normally, the naturalization process happens at the three standard levels: municipality, canton, and federal. But the facilitated naturalization is a federal process, acted jointly with the cantons. So, you will save time and money in the process.

Conclusion

When you get married in Switzerland, many things are changing:

You file taxes jointly (for now)
Assets and debts can be shared
Widow pensions are available
Inheritance is simpler and tax-free
etc.

It is important to know about these facts when you get married to avoid getting surprises. And generally, it is a good rule to try to know more about your financial situation and your rights.

On the other hand, finances should not be a reason to get (or not get) married.

What do you think? Is there anything you do not like about the financial changes when getting married in Switzerland?

1 thought on “The Financial Impact of Getting Married in Switzerland”

Giacomo says:

16 June 2026 at 12:32 pm

Hi Baptiste,
Thanks for the interesting post. The statement “If one of the spouses does not work, they may not have to pay the minimal first pillar contribution. If the working spouse pays more than twice the minimum, the contribution of the non-working spouse is waived” made me curious: I am in that situation since my wife doesn’t work. Do I have to do something to reduce my first pillar or is it automatically calculated by the institutions?

Thank you in advance for the answer and best regards