Assessment of self-employed income for family maintenance

OG 1994 1Outro Tribunal2 de set. de 1993Dismissed

Abrir fonte

Extraído pela Omnilex

Resumo Omnilex

The Federal Supreme Court dealt with a constitutional complaint concerning the determination of maintenance obligations for a self-employed person. It held that bookkeeping, tax returns, and even final tax assessments are only indicia and do not bind the court. Expert opinions are also freely assessed. In maintenance cases the court must additionally examine the income that could reasonably be earned hypothetically, applying strict standards, and must attach decisive importance to the parties’ previous and current standard of living. The complaint was dismissed.

Sumário Omnilex

Family law maintenance; assessment of income of self-employed persons in summary proceedings; evidentiary value of accounting and tax documents. In determining maintenance obligations, bookkeeping, tax returns and definitive tax assessments are not controlling, but at most indications, since their figures are based on tax or accounting criteria not necessarily relevant to maintenance (consid. 1). Court-appointed expert opinions remain subject to free judicial appreciation of evidence (§ 137 ZPO). For self-employed persons, the court must first examine the reasonably imputable hypothetical income, applying strict standards, and must also accord decisive weight to the former and current standard of living (consid. 2).

Texto completo

Erfahrungsgemäss bereitet es Schwierigkeiten, die Einkommensverhältnisse von Selbständigerwerbenden einigermassen zuverlässig zu ermitteln. Zur Festlegung der familienrechtlichen Unterhaltspflichten wird im Summarverfahren praxisgemäss weder auf Buchhaltungs- noch auf Steuerunterlagen abgestellt, weil die daraus resultierenden Zahlen regelmässig auf anderen (abschreibungstechnischen, steuerrechtlichen usw.) Kriterien als unterhaltsrechtlich relevanten beruhen. Buchhaltungen, Steuererklärungen und rechtskräftige Veranlagungsverfügungen sind allenfalls Indizien. Selbst Gutachten gerichtlich beigezogener Experten unterliegen der freien Beweiswürdigung des Gerichts (§ 137 ZPO). Bei Selbständigerwerbenden ist vorab auch zu prüfen, welcher Verdienst hypothetisch zumutbar ist, wobei durchaus strenge Massstäbe anzusetzen sind. Schliesslich kommt auch der bisherigen und aktuellen Lebenshaltung entscheidendes Gewicht zu.

(Das Bundesgericht hat die dagegen eingereichte staatsrechtliche Beschwerde am 29. März 1994 abgewiesen.)

Palavras-chave

maintenanceself-employed incomefree assessment of evidencehypothetical incomesummary proceedingsstandard of living

Extraído pela Omnilex

Questões jurídicas principais extraídas pela Omnilex

Questão jurídica principal

How should the income of a self-employed person be assessed for family-law maintenance purposes in summary proceedings?

Decisão extraída

For maintenance purposes, bookkeeping, tax returns, and final tax assessments are only possible indicia; the court must assess income freely and may not rely mechanically on such documents.

Fundamentação extraída

Self-employed income is difficult to determine reliably. In summary proceedings, the figures derived from accounting and tax materials regularly rest on non-maintenance criteria and therefore do not directly reflect support-relevant income. Even expert reports are subject to free judicial assessment.

Questão jurídica principal

Whether a hypothetical income may be imputed to a self-employed maintenance debtor, and on what basis

Decisão extraída

The court must first examine the income that can reasonably be earned hypothetically, applying strict standards, and must also give decisive weight to the person’s previous and current standard of living.

Fundamentação extraída

For self-employed persons, the maintenance court must consider not only actual declared income but also what is reasonably obtainable; prior and present living conditions are important indicators in that assessment.

Continue sua pesquisa no ChatGPT ou Claude

Conecte o Omnilex para pesquisar o corpus jurídico pelo seu assistente de IA.