Abstract
The institution of alimony for a divorced spouse (formerly also the "maintenance allowance" of a divorced spouse according to §§ 92 to 94 of the Family Act as amended until 1998) was known to all civil and family law regulations in our territory. They differed only in the concept of this special maintenance obligation.
Legislation until 1964 rather emphasized the moral aspects of this type of maintenance obligation and subjectivized its character by consistently taking into account the guilt or innocence of the ex-husband in the breakdown of a divorced marriage (§ 1266 ABGB, respectively § 34 ZPR). The Family Act, with effect from 1 April 1964, nevertheless subscribed to the objective concept and anchored the concept of objectively set prerequisites (ability or inability to support oneself) for awarding the right to alimony to a divorced spouse with a general correction of good morals (§ 92 et seq. of the Family Act).
The annotated Civil Code stuck to this concept; however, in an attempt to assist judicial practice in deciding on the existence of the right to alimony, he added several additions and wording clarifications to the legal text, the intended common purpose of which is to better reflect the factual and legal status of a specific situation