!!!Eherecht

Matrimonial Law, includes all legal rules which refer to the contents, 
marriage and dissolution of marriage as well as to the relationship 
between the spouses (especially provisions concerning names and 
matrimonial property provisions). Main sources of public marriage law 
are the Marriage Act of 1938 and the ABGB (General Civil Code). 
According to these sources marriage is a contract between two parties 
of different sex who are willing to live in inseparable life 
relationship, to have children, to bring them up and to support each 
other. The  Marriage gives rise to the same personal rights and 
obligations for both spouses. The basic principles of marriage, namely 
the obligation of full relationship and of immaterial and material 
mutual aid, are binding law while arrangements concerning 
housekeeping, jobs and joint residence are subject to agreement 
between the spouses. Since January 1, 1995 the spouses have been given 
the choice between bearing one and the same surname (which has to be 
the current surname of one of the spouses; the one whose name has not 
been chosen has the right to use her/his current surname, placing it 
before or after the married name) or keeping their respective former 
surnames. Austrian matrimonial law provides for the separation of 
property as the normal property regime, that is to say each spouse 
remains the owner of everything she/he has brought into the marriage 
and will be the sole owner of everything she/he aquires. Departures 
from this statutory regime require an agreement concluded before a 
notary public. Dissolution of the marriage requires a court decision 
in response to the petition of one or both of the spouses (decree of 
nullity, dissolution or  Divorce). Grounds of nullity are formal 
defects and lack of legal capacity at the time of marriage, nominal 
marriage and marriage for the purpose of acquiring citizenship, 
re-marriage in case of incorrect declaration of death and mala fides 
of both spouses, lineal consanguinity and collateral consanguinity up 
to the second degree, and bigamy. Grounds for annulment are lack of 
consent on the part of the statutory guardian in the case of spouses 
with limited capacity, mistake, wilful deception and duress, 
re-marriage in case of incorrect declaration of death and bona fide on 
the part of one of the spouses. There are various types of grounds for 
divorce: divorce on grounds of guilt (adultery, refusal to procreate, 
breach of marital duties), other grounds of divorce (mental illness, 
infectious diseases, repellent diseases, dissolution of the joint 
household) and divorce by mutual consent.

!Literature
H. Koziol and R. Welser, Grundriss des buergerlichen 
Rechts, vol. 2, %%sup 9/%1991.


%%language
[Back to the Austrian Version|AEIOU/Eherecht|class='wikipage austrian']
%%

[{FreezeArticle author='AEIOU' template='Lexikon_1995_englisch'}]
[{ALLOW view All}][{ALLOW comment All}][{ALLOW edit FreezeAdmin}]