Enlarge image
Zweibrücken Castle: Seat of the Palatinate Higher Regional Court
Photo: Antje Bakker / IMAGO
A wife who is expecting a child from an extramarital relationship cannot divorce her husband before the end of the so-called year of separation. According to a statement, the Palatinate Higher Regional Court (OLG) in Zweibrücken made it clear that she could not claim unreasonable hardship for her husband.
According to the law, a spouse can only submit a hardship application for divorce before the end of the first year of separation with a chance of success if the reasons lie “in the person of the other spouse”. The court went on to say that an appeal “on one’s own serious shortcomings” was simply not possible.
In the present case, according to the decision of February 7th, only a corresponding hardship application from the husband could possibly be permissible. The reason is that a "simplified correction of paternity" would only be possible if divorce proceedings were pending before the birth of a child - i.e. the divorce application had been submitted to the court. According to the current legal situation, the wife's application has no chance of success.
Accordingly, the Higher Regional Court also rejected the plaintiff's complaint in connection with the granting of legal aid. She had applied for this to enforce her demands. She had previously failed with her application for legal aid at the Zweibrücken District Court, which is why she went to the Higher Regional Court.
bbr/AFP