Facts
X., born in 1943, and Mrs. X., born in 1941, were married on August 21, 1965 in France. In November 1972, they left Geneva and settled in France. The husband has always worked in Switzerland and reached retirement age on April 30, 2008, with a professional pension amount of CHF 1'214'921 as of December 31, 2002. The wife worked in Switzerland and then opened a kinesiology practice in Geneva.
By judgment of March 24, 2003, the Tribunal de grande instance of Thonon-les-Bains pronounced the divorce of the spouses. Regarding their occupational pensions, it ordered the husband to pay the wife half of the vested termination benefit accrued during the marriage. On appeal by the husband, the Cour d'appel of Chambéry amended this judgment on February 1, 2005 and awarded the wife a sum of EUR 160,000 as a compensatory allowance. The French Cour de cassation dismissed the wife's appeal against this decision.
The wife filed an action for a supplement to the divorce judgment, concluding that the division of the occupational pension assets should be ordered in accordance with Art. 122 CC. The Geneva courts dismissed her claim.
Considerations
According to case law, the division of the vested termination benefit of the occupational pension is in principle governed by the law applicable to the divorce (Art. 64 para. 2 PILA). However, the French divorce judgment has already settled the issue of the pension assets by setting a compensatory allowance for the wife, taking into account in particular the husband's vested termination…