Facts
- B. (husband) and K. (wife) married in 1990 and have been living separately since April 1, 2001. On March 3, 2004, the wife filed for divorce. - During the divorce proceedings, the husband sold significant parts of his agricultural business in G. in March and August 2005 for a total of around 1.64 million Swiss francs, in order to acquire a new agricultural business. - The District Court ordered the husband to pay the wife 164,450 Swiss francs from the marital property. The High Court reduced this claim to 29,128 Swiss francs. - The wife appealed to the Federal Supreme Court, which remanded the case to the High Court for a new valuation of the assets and recalculation of the compensation claims.Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court states that after the dissolution of the marital property regime (filing of the lawsuit on March 3, 2004), no more replacement acquisitions are possible. The decisive factor for the valuation is the assets at the time of the division, i.e., the market value of the sold properties. The principle of capitalized earnings value under Art. 212 et seq. of the Swiss Civil Code (ZGB) does not apply here, as the agricultural business is no longer being maintained.
The High Court must therefore determine the…