There are three forms of divorce acceptable within the Austrian Judicial system:-
Divorce on the ground of fault “Streittige
Scheidung”
A spouse may request a divorce if one has culpably disrupted the marriage
by an aggravated matrimonial offence or through disgraceful or immoral behaviour,
so that reconciliation cannot be expected. The demonstrative examples are
adultery and the infliction of physical violence and severe mental cruelty. The
court will then try to determine which party is at fault for the breakdown of
the marriage and if this is proven guilty they must pay maintenance for the
other, the amount of which depends on the spouses’ financial circumstances.
Note that if a judge has to determine fault in the divorce, the proceedings
can last upto 2 years or more.
Divorce due to an irretrievably
broken marriage
This can be due to one spouse's behavior resulting from a mental
disorder, or if one spouse suffers from a mental illness or an
infectious disease or medical condition which cannot be expected to be
cured within the foreseeable future. A petition for divorce will not be
morally justified in case of undue hardship for the spouse concerned.
After six years of judicial separation, a divorce decree must be granted
if requested.
Divorce by mutual consent “Einvernehmliche Scheidung”
This provision requires that
each spouse makes a declaration conceding that an irretrievable breakdown has
occurred. If an agreement has been reached with or without mediation, the marriage
is dissolved by court order (“Beschluss”)
Before the divorce is granted, both parties must agree on three important
aspects:-
- Custody (“obsorge”) of the child(ren), its future principal residence as well as frequency of contact of the other parent. (Note that since 2013 custody in Austria is always by default joint custody, except there would be very serious circumstances why one parent should be denied this. Interestingly, mental illness is not considered one such circumstance for denying custody.)
- Financial maintenance of the children
- Division of matrimonial property and maintenance of a spouse.
If there are matrimonial debts and there is no agreement between the spouses on who should settle them, the court can determine which spouse shall be obliged to pay the debts
If no agreement can be reached on these three things, then the divorce
automatically goes into “Streittige
scheidung”, which means the final decision will lie with the judge.
To read more about this go to http://ceflonline.net/wp-content/uploads/Austria-Divorce.pdf
and
How long did it take for your divorce to become final from the date of filing? How did you manage to stay in Austria without having a job? I was made to understand that if your stay here is dependent on your spouse then the only way to stay is if you have held a steady job for at least 6 months. In that case, you can change to a red-white-plus card. Thanks! And once again...I am so sorry, you went through so much!!! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteHi Alicia,No you don't need to have a job immediately to stay here. I was unemployed when I moved to the frauenhaus, but i was on the 3rd semester of my masters degree by then so it was much easier for me as I applied for Rot-Weiss-Rot Karte Plus "für besonderes hochqualifizierte". However i left the marriage in December and I didnt get a job until february the next year.
DeleteIt is almost impossible to be thrown out of the country when you have an Austrian child - they will simply not give you one until you get stable. But your status is still legal as long as you provide all the other documentation and offer to bring the rest later on. A different scenario - a friend at the Frauenhaus was offered a job by them right there in the house and with this she could apply for her visa. I highly recommended going through the frauenhaus - lots of advantages there.
As for the other questions - my divorce was fast - 5 months. But the child custody case is still ongoing. But I solved it partly by moving far away to Tirol so i have a measure of peace now with my daughter, and i have primary custody :-)
DeleteHello Dresila please i need to talk to you in private if you may. Please email me. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteGreat post!
ReplyDeleteThank you for writing such a clear explanation! Is there any possibility for divorce if there is no particular reason? May you file for a no-fault divorce or something like this? In other words, what should you do if neither spouse is at fault, but the marriage no longer works for both parties? For any information as to the financial aspects of the divorce process, I advise you to get redirected here.
ReplyDeleteMy Ukrainian wife re married Austrian citizen, took my son to leave with him and blocked me everywhere. Teaching son wrong values and doesn't allow talking to his Dad. I'm Ukrainian citizen and she is too. How to deal with it? She doesn't care about court orders.
ReplyDeleteThank Dr Agbazara for restoring back my marriage after 2 years of separation finally my husband is back home is back home with the power of the great spell caster Dr. Agbazara who has play a very vital part in my life to make me happy now i am full of joy and happiness been with my family again, for more information and help contact him via email on: ( agbazara@gmail.com )
ReplyDelete