Facts
A. (1968) and B. (1977) were married on June 13, 2006 and separated at the end of June 2009. They had a child born on January 10, 2007. The Court of First Instance of the Canton of Geneva pronounced their divorce on September 23, 2013, granting parental authority and custody of the child to the mother, and ordering the father to pay a maintenance contribution for the child. The Civil Chamber of the Court of Justice of the Canton of Geneva reformed this decision, setting the child maintenance pension at 300 CHF per month, excluding family allowances, as of October 3, 2011. The Federal Tribunal upheld the appeal filed by the ex-spouse against this decision.
Considerations
According to Art. 126 CC, the divorce court sets the time from which the maintenance contribution for the spouse becomes due. This generally takes effect upon the entry into force of the divorce judgment, unless the court, in its discretion, sets the dies a quo (starting date) at another time.
The divorce court may, for example, decide to make the maintenance obligation subject to a condition or a term, or to set the dies a quo at the time when the divorce judgment becomes partially res judicata, when the principle of divorce is no longer challenged.
However, when provisional measures have been ordered for the duration of the divorce proceedings, the divorce…