Facts
The case concerns the allocation of a farming business under matrimonial property law, which the appellant (M.) acquired from his father during the marriage. M. and his wife F. married in 1972 and divorced in 2006. In the divorce judgment, M. was ordered to pay F. CHF 1,385,908 as compensation for her matrimonial property claims.
M. appealed against this amount and requested that it be set at CHF 149,400. The High Court dismissed the appeal and confirmed the first-instance judgment. Thereupon, M. filed a civil law appeal with the Federal Supreme Court.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court states that M. would have had to provide evidence that the farming business belonged to his separate property. It concludes that this was an onerous acquisition, as M. had financed the purchase price of CHF 123,500 by taking over mortgages. Consequently, the business falls…