Facts
Z. (the wife), born in 1944, and X. (the husband), born in 1946, were married in 1971 before the civil registry office A. From this union, the children R., S. and T., now adults, were born. The parties have been living separately since May 1, 2000.
On December 8, 2004, the husband filed for divorce. By judgment of October 24, 2006, the District Court of Brugg granted the divorce and ordered the husband to pay post-marital maintenance of 6,000 francs per month until March 2008 (when the wife reaches AVS age).
On appeal and joint appeal, the Cantonal Court of the Canton of Aargau, by judgment of May 27, 2008, ordered the husband to pay the wife maintenance of 1,136 francs (or 1,736 francs from the departure of daughter T.) until her entry into the AVS, and then 892 francs (or 1,192 francs from the departure of daughter T.).
Considerations
The Federal Tribunal specifies that post-marital maintenance is based on different principles (Art. 125 para. 1 CC) and follows different criteria (Art. 125 para. 2 CC) than maintenance during marriage, which is based on the mutual duty of assistance between spouses (Art. 163 para. 1 CC) and the division of tasks agreed between them (Art. 163 para. 2 CC). Consequently, the two types of maintenance cannot be equated, and it would be inadmissible to simply extend the maintenance during marriage after the divorce, regardless of the particular situation of the case at hand.
Although the method of dividing the surplus by half may yield reasonable results in long marriages marked by a traditional division of roles and average incomes, it must not be applied schematically, as this would not sufficiently take into account the requirements of Art. 125 CC. Each decision must not only respect the specific criteria of Art. 125 para. 2 CC, but also take into account,…