Buying property in Mexico when married: regime, deed and fideicomiso

By Lic. Pati Claudia Galarza, attorney (Licenciada en Derecho), Cédula Profesional 15176510 · Published October 18, 2026 · Español

Your marriage goes into the paperwork. When you buy property in Baja California, the notario público records your civil status, and your marriage's property regime, sociedad conyugal (shared property) or separación de bienes (separate property), decides who owns what, who must sign to sell and what happens on divorce or death. If you buy through a fideicomiso, you also decide how each of you appears as a beneficiary. Settle this before the closing, not at the signing table.

The notary records your civil status

Every escritura must state the name, age, civil status, place of origin, nationality, occupation and address of each person who takes part (Ley del Notariado para el Estado de Baja California, art. 121, fr. XI). The notary will ask whether you are married, to whom and under which regime, and will want to see the marriage certificate. The deed is written in Spanish; a party who does not understand Spanish brings an interpreter of their choice (art. 127).

The two regimes in Baja California

The Código Civil para el Estado de Baja California allows two regimes: sociedad conyugal or separación de bienes (art. 175). Spouses set them up and regulate them through capitulaciones matrimoniales (art. 176), which can be made before or during the marriage (art. 177). A Mexican marriage certificate states which regime the couple chose (art. 100, fr. VII), because couples must file that agreement when they apply to marry (art. 95, fr. V).

Sociedad conyugal: it covers the property the capitulaciones say, and it can include property acquired during the marriage (art. 181). While it lasts, ownership of the common property belongs to both spouses (art. 191). Unless the capitulaciones say otherwise, what one spouse receives by gift or inheritance stays theirs alone (art. 181).
Separación de bienes: each spouse keeps ownership and management of their own property and its fruits (art. 209), and their earnings are their own (art. 210). It can be total or partial; whatever a partial separation leaves out falls into a sociedad conyugal (art. 205).

Spouses may sell to each other only if they are married under separación de bienes (art. 173).

Married abroad: which law applies

Most of our clients married in the United States or Canada, and their certificates usually say nothing about a property regime. Mexico's federal conflict-of-laws rule says that legal situations validly created abroad under that country's law must be recognised, while rights in real estate are governed by the law of the place where the property is (Código Civil Federal, art. 13, frs. I and III). Baja California's code says that real estate in the state is governed by the state code even if the owners are foreigners (art. 14), and that the effects of acts and contracts made outside the state that are to be carried out here are governed by that code (art. 13).

In practice the notary must record your marriage in terms of the Mexican regimes. Tell the notary early how and where you married, whether you signed a prenuptial agreement, and what you want: one name or both, and in what shares. If one of you is Mexican and married abroad, the Baja California code provides for transcribing the marriage at the Registro Civil of the couple's domicile within three months of arriving in Mexico; done later, it has civil effect only from the transcription date (art. 158).

Prenuptial agreements made abroad

A prenup signed abroad can be used here. Under Baja California's code, the form of a legal act follows the law of the place where it was made (art. 15). Bring it with an apostille (Mexico, the United States and Canada are all parties to the Hague Apostille Convention) and translated into Spanish: the Ley del Notariado allows documents in a foreign language to be added to the notary's records when translated by an interpreter authorised by the Tribunal Superior de Justicia del Estado (art. 113). The notary will read it to see how it fits the Mexican regimes for the purposes of the deed.

Why your spouse signs when you sell

Under sociedad conyugal, ownership of common property belongs to both spouses (art. 191), so both sign the sale, even if only one name appears in the purchase deed. Under separación de bienes, each spouse can sell their own property without the other's authorisation, subject to what the capitulaciones say about management (art. 169). That is why the buyer's notary checks the seller's civil status. If your situation changes (marriage, divorce, a spouse's death), expect to show the documents when you sell.

Fideicomiso: both spouses as beneficiaries

Foreign buyers in the restricted zone hold through a bank fideicomiso. The trust can name several fideicomisarios who benefit at the same time or one after another (Ley General de Títulos y Operaciones de Crédito, art. 383). For a married couple that usually means:

Both spouses as fideicomisarios, each with a stated percentage: 50/50 or any split you choose.
Substitute beneficiaries in order, for example the surviving spouse and then the children, who take the rights on death. A chain of substitutions on death is allowed only in favour of people alive or already conceived when the settlor dies (art. 394, fr. II).
A decision rule. When the beneficiaries must decide something the trust does not cover, they vote by shares, not by heads, and a tie goes to a judge (art. 383). At 50/50, write the rule into the trust.

The bank's SRE permit application lists the name and nationality of each beneficiary and any substitutes (Reglamento de la Ley de Inversión Extranjera, art. 9, fr. III), and the bank reports later designations of substitutes or assignments of rights to the SRE each year (art. 11, fr. III). Changes are possible later, but they mean amending the trust, so get it right at the start.

If one spouse is Mexican, that spouse may hold title directly, but the foreign spouse may not. See our guide for dual citizens before deciding how to title the property.

Divorce and death, in brief

Divorce ends the sociedad conyugal (art. 194). An inventory is made, common debts are paid, each spouse gets back what they brought, and the rest is divided as agreed (arts. 200 and 201).
Under separación de bienes, a spouse who mainly worked in the home and acquired no property of their own, or notably less, may claim in the divorce up to 50% of the value of the property the other acquired during the marriage (art. 279 BIS).
A foreign court judgment is registered at the RPPC only after a Mexican court orders its execution (art. 2872, fr. III).
On a death under sociedad conyugal, the surviving spouse keeps possession and management of the common property, with the estate's representative, until it is divided (art. 202). In a fideicomiso, the substitutes you named take the deceased's rights as the trust provides.

What to bring

Your marriage certificate; if issued abroad, apostilled and translated by an authorised translator.
Your prenup or capitulaciones, if any, apostilled and translated.
If either of you was married before, the documents showing how that marriage ended.
Passports for identification (Ley del Notariado, art. 122) and, if either of you is Mexican, proof of Mexican nationality.
If you buy through a fideicomiso, your decision on percentages and substitute beneficiaries.
If one spouse cannot attend, a power of attorney; one granted abroad must be legalised or apostilled and then formalised before a Mexican notary to take effect (Ley del Notariado, art. 113).

How Galarza Legal can help

We review your marriage documents and any prenup before you sign an offer, explain how your regime will appear in the deed or fideicomiso, prepare the instructions on percentages and substitute beneficiaries for the bank and the notary, and check the translations. You pay the notary, the bank and the SRE directly; the firm does not receive or hold money for third parties.

Frequently asked questions

We married in the United States without a prenup. Are we under sociedad conyugal in Mexico?

There is no automatic answer. Mexican law recognises situations validly created abroad, but Baja California real estate is governed by the state code, which knows only sociedad conyugal and separación de bienes. Tell the notary early how you married so the deed records your situation correctly.

Can only one of us be on the fideicomiso?

Yes, a fideicomiso can name a single fideicomisario. Keep in mind that your marriage regime may still give the other spouse rights, and naming the spouse as a substitute beneficiary lets the rights pass under the trust if the first beneficiary dies (LGTOC art. 383).

What happens if we each hold 50% and disagree?

Unless the trust says otherwise, beneficiaries decide by majority computed by shares, and a tie goes to a judge where the bank is domiciled (LGTOC art. 383). Write a decision rule into the trust.

Do both of us have to be at the signing?

Both buyers sign, but one can sign for the other with a power of attorney. A power granted abroad must be legalised or apostilled and formalised before a notary in Mexico to take effect (Ley del Notariado para el Estado de Baja California, art. 113).

General information about Mexican law as of the date shown; not advice on a specific case. Every figure is an estimate.