Facts
Maria Corazon Wüest-Sochayseng, born in 1916, is married to Anatole Wüest, who resides in the Philippines for professional reasons. Since 1972, with her husband's consent, Mrs. Wüest has been living with her children in the canton of Zug, Switzerland. On June 16, 1978, she applied to the compensation fund of the canton of Zug for the payment of an ordinary old-age pension. The fund rejected this application on the grounds that Mrs. Wüest did not have her domicile in Switzerland, a requirement for the granting of an extraordinary pension under Art. 42 OASIA. Mrs. Wüest then appealed against this decision, obtaining a favorable judgment from the Administrative Tribunal of the canton of Zug. The Federal Social Insurance Office then filed an administrative law appeal against this decision.Considerations
The Federal Insurance Tribunal considers that the notion of "domicile in Switzerland" within the meaning of Art. 42(1) OASIA refers to the civil law definition of domicile according to Art. 23 et seq. CC. According to this well-established case law, the domicile of a married wife follows in principle that of her husband (Art. 25(1) CC). However, the wife may have a separate domicile if the conditions of Art. 170(1) CC are met, i.e., if cohabitation seriously endangers her health, reputation or means of subsistence. In the present case, Mrs. Wüest does not allege that cohabitation with her husband…