Numbers for the man
ChroniquesDuVasteMondewoman: Women have to pay for their husbands after the divorce - how often does this happen in your practice?
Katharina Mosel: More often than before, at least once a month. Women are always better educated and earn more and more.
ChroniquesDuVasteMondewoman: Is not that unjust: for years, a woman bears the brunt of the family, earns the money, educates the children, and allows her husband, for example, a non-artist life - and then she should still pay after the divorce?
Katharina Mosel: Legally, the matter is clear: The legislature assumes that after a long marriage, the relationships should remain approximately as the partners have designed them in the marriage. If one person earns more throughout, after the divorce, he or she has to pay for the other "supplemental support", depending on how long they have spent each person. However, as a result of the maintenance reform, which will come into effect on January 1, 2008, it will be necessary to take a much closer look at whether those who require maintenance have suffered their own hardships. The marriage duration alone will no longer be the decisive criterion. Exception: Things have been regulated differently in a marriage contract. By the way, you do not have to finish it when you marry, you can do that at any time during your marriage, if you want to protect your future.
Do many women do that? No, that's mostly from the men. If women ever enter into a marriage contract, they often come from a craft business or a family business, which is to be secured. Otherwise, women are still the more romantic, they think they are violating the original sense of marriage. Some women already consider it a mistrust statement if they even call a lawyer. Men are much more pragmatic and generally better informed.
What else can the lawyer save if she divorces without a marriage contract and the wife has to pay for the rest of her life? She can try to complete a maintenance comparison. One conceivable example is a temporary solution: she pays him another five years, then he has to stand on his own two feet. A mediation can also be helpful, ie a mediation meeting (addresses at the Federal Association for Family Mediation, Tel. 030/23628266 or at www.bafm-mediation.de, the Red.).
Katharina Mosel
ChroniquesDuVasteMondewoman: Some women have a chance in court but do not assert their rights with regard to the children.
Katharina Mosel: You do not do your kids a favor, if you renounce his rights and then lament the missed opportunities for twenty years. The experience teaches: After a separation, it is all parties really bad for a year. Then you recover again - and annoyed in retrospect that you have not gone through the process. It is also annoying that many women still have no relationship to the money. I urge you to first check soberly before a legal dispute: How much money do I have? And above all, how much does my husband have? Unfortunately, many women have no insight into the man's financial circumstances.
ChroniquesDuVasteMondewoman: And what can women do who have signed loan agreements and guarantees for their husband?
Katharina Mosel: In individual cases, bank guarantees have been declared immoral and thus invalidated. I strongly advise, however, to seek legal advice before - that costs in a first conversation 180 euros. You do not have to give in to every wish of the banks. Often they try to get as many collateral as possible, but that does not have to be the case. A signature under the loan agreement is enough. By the way, a common prejudice is that women are liable for the debts of their husbands. That's not true. Only if he buys something for the household, for example, an expensive espresso machine, and not paid, it depends in there. If he buys a Ferrari, not.
ChroniquesDuVasteMondewoman: Why do not many women know what to expect in marriage?
Katharina Mosel: Because nobody tells you that before marriage. I would do that in school: What does a marriage mean? When I give lectures on "Rights and Duties of Married Couples", nobody comes. I refer to the topic "divorce consequences", the shack is full. Unfortunately, people do not come until the child falls into the well.
