Spousal Maintenance | Separation Maintenance

As with disputes concerning child support and custody, Kurtz Detective Agency Dortmund becomes involved when false statements are used to unlawfully alter the determination or calculation of separation maintenance and post-marital support: +49 231 8401 0065.

Case Study from Dortmund: Unlawful Refusal to Pay Maintenance by Falsifying Facts

Fritz and Ingrid were both born in Dortmund and had known each other since school. After graduating, they lost contact and went their separate ways. In the early 1990s, Fritz, who had trained as a butcher and later served as a short-service soldier in the Bundeswehr, moved to northern Germany to work with the Navy. He spent his service as a ship’s cook in the German fleet. One day, around 1997, Fritz returned to his home port and met Ingrid, who was divorced with two children, while Fritz was still single. From that point on, they met whenever Fritz was home. Eventually, this arrangement could not continue, and Fritz left the Bundeswehr but remained in northern Germany, returning to work as a butcher while Ingrid stayed at home caring for the family.

Fritz married Ingrid and adopted her two sons. Everything seemed in order; they later had two children of their own, Norbert (born 2001) and Stefan (born 2003). However, Fritz then lost his job and was unable to find another. He eventually went to the employment office in Hamburg to enquire about work abroad. He was offered a placement in Scandinavia (2005). From then on, he worked three weeks abroad in Scandinavia and returned home for one week to Dortmund to be with his wife and children. Ingrid, meanwhile, could neither take up employment nor continue her studies started before marriage, as she had to care for the children full-time.

Housewives’ Entitlement to Post-Marital Maintenance

After some time, the couple realised that a long-distance relationship would not work in the long term, and Fritz wanted to move his family to Scandinavia. The children (including the adopted sons) were enthusiastic, but his wife refused. After nearly a year of deliberation and arguments, they decided to separate. Fritz wanted to take the children with him to Scandinavia, but Ingrid refused firmly. Dortmund was home for her. She received residence rights for the children, as Fritz could not care for them all day, but custody was granted to both parents.

The two children from Ingrid’s first marriage were by then employed but still living with her, so Fritz was not required to pay maintenance for them. The younger children, Norbert and Stefan, were of school age when the divorce was finalised (2013). Fritz agreed to pay child support for them, but he vehemently refused to pay post-marital support for his ex-wife, who after many years as a housewife could not obtain employment. Fritz argued that Ingrid could easily work a few hours in the mornings while the children were at school. But how could Ingrid do so when every potential employer rejected her?

Proving Concealed Employment

Once Fritz realised that he could not avoid paying post-marital support in addition to child support, he suddenly claimed that he had lost his job in Scandinavia and therefore had no regular income. He said he had moved back to Hamburg and was living on unemployment benefits. Ingrid initially swallowed this bitter pill, as she saw no reason to distrust her ex-husband (after all, they had parted relatively amicably). However, over time, she discovered more evidence, especially from conversations with her children, suggesting that Fritz had never left Scandinavia and was still working there. With financial support from her mother, she commissioned Kurtz Detective Agency Dortmund to investigate her ex-husband’s actual circumstances and document any inconsistencies in a legally admissible manner.

In the first investigative step, our detectives verified the alleged new address of the ex-husband in Hamburg. It quickly became clear that he had only rented a mailbox there and did not live on site. With this knowledge, Kurtz Detective Agency Dortmund engaged detective partners in Scandinavia to determine whether Fritz was still living there and whether he was truly unemployed. Our colleagues soon confirmed that he was still employed by the same company – even in a responsible position with excellent pay (information that is relatively easy to research in that country). Armed with this evidence, Ingrid instructed a family law solicitor, who confronted Fritz with his misconduct and, under threat of civil and criminal proceedings, forced him to comply. Within a few days, Fritz capitulated. Since then, he has duly met the maintenance obligations owed to our client.

Note

To preserve discretion and the personal rights of clients and targets, all names and locations in this case report have been completely anonymised.