Guilt for a breakdown of life
The obligation to adjudicate
In a divorce case, the court always (unless both spouses do not want it) decides who is guilty of the breakdown. The same is true in the case of separation, with the exception of separation adjudicated in a non-litigious manner on a joint application of the parties. The court may order that one of the spouses, both spouses, or neither spouse, is guilty.
The concept of guilt
Guilt is not clearly defined in the law. In practice, it is about determining which spouse (or both spouses), by their reprehensible behavior, caused the marriage to fall apart. Reprehensible behavior should also be understood to include negligence by one of the spouses.
Effects of the verdict on guilt
The verdict on guilt has a moral dimension, but above all it has financial consequences in the form of alimony for the other spouse.
Firstly, a divorced spouse who has not been found guilty of the breakdown and who is in need, may demand from the other spouse the means of subsistence corresponding to their legitimate needs and the earning and property opportunities of the obligor. Put simply, a spouse who is in a state of need and has not been found guilty of the breakdown may demand alimony from their spouse.
Secondly, if one of the spouses was found solely guilty of the breakdown, and the divorce results in a significant deterioration of the innocent spouse’s situation, the court, upon request of the innocent spouse, can decide that the guilty spouse should contribute to satisfying the innocent spouse’s justified needs (i.e. paying alimony), even if this was not in need.
It should be noted that in the case of divorce (but not separation), maintenance for the other spouse is paid in principle only for 5 years or until the date of the new marriage. The obligation to provide for a divorced spouse expires if that spouse enters into a new marriage. However, if a divorced spouse who was not found guilty of the breakdown has not remarried, this obligation also expires five years after the divorce, unless, due to exceptional circumstances, the court, at the request of the rightholder, extends this five-year period.