Digging for gold

The new Mrs Sarkozy is nearly ten times as rich as her husband, according to a report in yesterday's Figaro. Which has led to speculation about what sort of marriage contract they may have signed.

To explain: in France you can choose from a selection of financial regimes for your marriage. French tradition and law favours the bloodline over rapacious spouses. The default regime, the one that automatically applies unless you choose otherwise, is the communauté réduite aux acquêts. The spouses' revenues are equally shared but any inheritances, donations etc remain the property of each individual spouse and are kept by them in case of divorce.

The officiating maire at the wedding let slip that the Sarkozys have chosen otherwise. Possibly a communauté universelle? Unlikely, thinks the Figaro, since all existing assets, as well as revenues, go into the common pot and would be split equally in the event of a divorce. Carla wouldn't want to give away half her fortune like that.

Or there's the régime de la séparation des biens which keeps everything separate. Or indeed the régime de la participation réduite aux acquêts which keeps everything separate during the marriage but provides for an equal division on death or divorce of assets acquired during the marriage. The Figaro doesn't come to any conclusions about which régime they may have selected.

All of which is alien, even bewildering, to an English reader. Wealthy newlyweds may try to protect their fortunes with pre-nuptial agreements, but they're not binding, and it's only recently that courts have started giving them any consideration when dividing up the assets on a divorce.