Facts
The appellant [X.] and the respondent [Y.] were divorced in 1976. The District Court of Kreuzlingen ordered [X.] to pay an unlimited maintenance allowance of CHF 1,500 per month to his ex-wife [Y.] . [X.] attempted several times in the following years to have the allowance revoked or reduced, but these attempts were rejected. On 1 February 2008, [X.] again requested the termination of the allowance upon reaching his AHV (Old Age and Survivors' Insurance) retirement age on 25 December 2007. The District Court of Winterthur reduced the allowance to CHF 745 per month. The High Court of the Canton of Zurich confirmed this decision. [X.] appealed the High Court's judgment with the aim of completely terminating the allowance.Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court states that when setting the maintenance allowance at the time of the divorce, the future economic circumstances of the spouses can only be predicted to a limited extent. An unexpected change in the financial situation can lead to the originally set maintenance contribution becoming inappropriate in retrospect. Therefore, the allowance can be particularly reduced or terminated if the circumstances have changed significantly and permanently. The High Court has reduced the allowance because an unforeseeable economic improvement has occurred on the part of the respondent.…