Maintenance contribution changes
Maintenance contribution changes
"I receive a small monthly contribution from my ex-husband to support both my son and myself. I've learnt that my ex-husband is much better off now than he was at the time of the divorce, so is it possible to change the maintenance payments he makes to me?
Rita, Carouge
At the time of divorce, when setting a maintenance contribution, the judge takes into account the financial situation and needs of each of the spouses and the children. As the needs of the child and the financial situation of the parties are likely to change over the years for social or personal reasons, Swiss law provides for various ways of dealing with these changes.
Before determining the amount to which a spouse, or the couple's children, are entitled, the judge must establish the family's standard of living during the time they lived together. If the debtor's financial situation improves after the divorce and the creditor asserts his or her right to a change in the maintenance contribution paid to him or her, the standard of living during the period of cohabitation will set the upper limit to which the creditor is entitled. In the opposite case, if the financial situation of the debtor has deteriorated after the divorce and he is no longer able to pay the maintenance contribution to his ex-wife and/or child, he may ask the judge to reduce or even cancel the maintenance owed to his ex-spouse or child, if he can prove that his situation has changed significantly and permanently. It should be noted that this is possible even if it was not possible to fix a pension to ensure the proper maintenance of the creditor at the time of the divorce.
However, to ensure that maintenance contributions keep pace with the cost of living, the judge may index the maintenance contribution, i.e. automatically adjust the pension in line with specific variations in the cost of living.
If the creditor remarries, the debtor is no longer obliged to pay maintenance to his ex-spouse, but remains obliged to the child, since this obligation depends solely on the child's coming of age and education. If the debtor remarries, the obligation to pay maintenance is not extinguished.
