Mixed marriage and Bali property: what the Indonesian spouse can own

Many foreigners in Bali buy through an Indonesian husband or wife. Indonesian marriage law makes property bought during the marriage joint, and land law does not let a foreigner hold freehold — so without the right paperwork, the Indonesian spouse's freehold sits awkwardly between the two. This page reads the 1974 marriage law, the 2016 Constitutional Court ruling, the Agrarian Law and the 2021 land regulation.

Seven words in a mixed-marriage purchase

The terms in the laws and the deeds.

Why the marriage matters to the land

Property acquired during the marriage becomes joint property; what each spouse brought in, and gifts and inheritances, stay with that spouse unless agreed otherwise (UU 1/1974 Pasal 35). Only citizens may hold hak milik (UUPA Pasal 21(1)), and a foreigner who acquires it through “percampuran harta karena perkawinan” — mixing of property by marriage — must release it within one year, or the right lapses and the land falls to the state (Pasal 21(3)). An HGB holder who no longer qualifies has the same year to release or transfer (Pasal 36(2)). The Constitutional Court in 2016 described the consequence for an Indonesian who marries a foreigner after acquiring freehold in those terms.

The fix in the land regulation

PP 18/2021 Pasal 70(1): an Indonesian who marries a foreigner “dapat memiliki Hak Atas Tanah yang sama dengan Warga Negara Indonesia lainnya” — may hold the same land rights as other citizens. Ayat (2): provided the land is not joint property, shown by a property-separation agreement between husband and wife made by notarial deed. The 2015 regulation it replaced said nearly the same.

Situations, and the rule for each

The agreement: before, at or during the marriage

The 1974 law allowed a marriage agreement only at or before the wedding, ratified by the registrar, and unchangeable during the marriage (Pasal 29). The Constitutional Court in Putusan 69/PUU-XIII/2015 (pronounced 27 October 2016) read Pasal 29 to allow a written agreement “pada waktu, sebelum dilangsungkan atau selama dalam ikatan perkawinan” — at, before or during the marriage — ratified by the marriage registrar or a notary; in force from the marriage unless the agreement says otherwise; covering marital property or other matters; and changeable or revocable by mutual consent if third parties are not harmed. The 2019 amendment to the marriage law changed only the marriage age.

Already married and buying now

For a couple married without an agreement, the sequence the texts point to is: sign a property-separation agreement by notarial deed before the purchase (PP 18/2021 Pasal 70(2)); state in it when it takes effect, since by default it runs from the date of the marriage (Putusan 69/2015 on Pasal 29(3)); make sure it does not harm third parties such as creditors of existing joint property (Pasal 29(4) as read); then buy in the Indonesian spouse's name, by PPAT deed. Freehold already held jointly before the agreement is the case the one-year rule in UUPA Pasal 21(3) was written for; how a later agreement treats it is for the notary, and the texts read do not settle it.

What the land office needs

For land, PP 18/2021 Pasal 70 asks for the separation agreement by notarial deed — stricter than the Court's “registrar or notary”. The land ministry's 2021 procedure regulation says nothing further on mixed marriages that we found. The Court rejected the rest of the petition: the Agrarian Law's nationality rule stands.

Children and inheritance

A child of an Indonesian and a foreign parent is an Indonesian citizen; if that makes the child a dual citizen, they choose one citizenship at 18 or on marrying, declared within three years (UU 12/2006 Pasal 4, 6). While a dual citizen, the child cannot hold hak milik and the one-year release rule applies (UUPA Pasal 21(4)). Foreign heirs. A foreign spouse's own route to a house is hak pakai. Lease or hak pakai.

What this page does not cover

• Divorce, where joint property follows the parties' religious, adat or other law (UU 1/1974 Pasal 37).
• Marriages registered abroad and their recognition.
• Notary fees.

Common questions