Facts
The case concerns the determination of the non-assignable wage amount (competence amount) by the debt collection office in wage assignments. The appellant Schällibaum had made wage assignments in connection with loan agreements and requested the debt collection office Rheineck to determine the wage amount to be left to him under Art. 93 DEBA. The debt collection office calculated the appellant's and his family's basic needs at CHF 1,767.50 and designated a wage amount of CHF 257.50 per month as assignable.
The appellant filed a complaint against this order, which was dismissed by the lower and upper cantonal supervisory authorities. He appealed the decision of the upper cantonal supervisory authority to the Federal Supreme Court and requested consideration of his tax debts for 1969 as well as an examination of the legal validity of his wage assignments.
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court first notes that the principle stated in Art. 226e(1) CO, that future wage claims can only be assigned to the extent they are subject to seizure, applies generally. Therefore, Art. 226e(2) CO, according to which the debt collection office sets the competence amount to be left to the assignee under Art. 93 DEBA upon request of the parties involved, is to be applied accordingly to assignments of future wage claims that are not connected with a transaction covered by the provisions on the installment purchase contract.
In the calculation of the basic needs under Art. 93…