During a divorce, sometimes one spouse tries to seize the other's Swiss bank account.

Anyone wishing to seize the holdings of a spouse's Swiss account faces a long, difficult and costly procedure.

1. Marriage held in Switzerland
Bank secrecy is lifted when the divorce is declared under Swiss marriage law. The Swiss civil code (art.170) stipulates that spouses can request that their husband or wife inform them of their financial situation.

2. Marriage held outside of Switzerland
The situation is very different when the divorce is declared under foreign marriage law. The Swiss banker is in fact prohibited from testifying before a foreign court (art. 47 of the Banking Act) in accordance with bank secrecy. In order for your Swiss banker to be allowed to testify about your account in a divorce case, there should be a judicial cooperation treaty between Switzerland and the country where the divorce takes case. The plaintiff (spouse) should also specifically know in which bank the account is held, which is usually not possible for him/her to know unless the account holder himself/herself has released that information.

THIS INFORMATION IS A GENERAL DESCRIPTION ONLY AND SHOULD NOT BE USED TO DETERMINE WHAT RULES WILL BE APPLIED IN EACH INDIVIDUAL CASE. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD THIS PAGE BE INTERPRETED AS ADVICE OR A SOURCE OF INFORMATION FOR BASING A DECISION.

Other pages of interest:

Open a numbered account in Switzerland Swiss bank secrecy with respect to bankruptcy What happens with my Swiss bank account if I die?