Before our marriage my husband owned a car which he sold during the marriage. The notary tells me that he received a reward equal to the sale price. Is this normal ?

Yes. When the spouses are married under the regime of the legal community, three patrimonies are to be distinguished: the patrimony specific to each spouse and the common patrimony. During couple life, financial movements often take place between the different assets. The mechanism of rewards is intended to restore the balance at the dissolution of the matrimonial regime, when one of the patrimonies has been enriched to the detriment of another. For example, when one of the spouses has sold a property during the marriage, which was his own, he does not re-use the sale price while purchasing his own property and the community collects it (art. 1433 Civil Code.).