Marriage between two people is not only a love relationship. When you marry, you also enter into a contract. Many people are not aware of this to its full extent. Even though it may be more romantic to only think about the wedding dress, the cake or the guest list, it makes sense to find out what mutual rights and obligations apply in a marriage before getting married.

In the best case, divorce does not put you in an existentially threatening financial situation. To say that divorce is a systematic destruction of assets is harsh. What is true is that, unfortunately, a divorce does not equal a magical increase in money, but it does suddenly result in double costs. In order to avoid financial outbursts, it helps to avoid common mistakes when getting divorced.

Prenuptial agreements are neither particularly popular nor do they enjoy a good reputation: they are widely regarded as unromantic. What is disregarded in the process: When you get married, you automatically sign a contract. No matter whether you want to or not. Marriage is a contract. So why not at least (help) decide what should be in the contract?

The end of a marriage is usually not pretty. Of course, this is not a purely Austrian phenomenon. However, Austria is one of the few countries in Europe that still applies the principle of fault. This also means that divorce proceedings are not only emotionally costly for those affected, but also financially.

When a couple separates, it is usually accompanied by the wish to have less contact with each other in the future. However, this is not so easy with couples who have children. If both parents want to be involved in the children’s lives after the separation, it is necessary to discuss and exchange ideas and to find solutions together. There are many myths surrounding custody and contact rights, and these are also frequent topics of conflict.

Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) describes a special form of parent-child alienation. Specifically, one parent destroys the reputation of the other parent in the eyes of the child. This inevitably leads to a serious conflict of loyalties and a psychological burden for the child. Even if the term Parental Alienation Syndrome is controversial, it is part of parenting skills to allow the other parent to continue in their role as father or mother.

Alimony or maintenance is often an irritating topic. People ask themselves during a separation whether they can afford the child support at all. On the other hand, the question whether the child support will be sufficient to cover the needs of the children, arises. Some people who pay child maintenance fear that they are actually sponsoring the ex-partner with their payments. In fact, this is usually not the case.

Custody and contact rights – these terms are surrounded by myths, half-knowledge and misunderstandings. Often it is said that as a man you (legally) have nothing to say about the children anyway, that only the mother gets custody. However, practice shows that this is not true. Moreover, custody is not decisive for how often the children is seeing one parent after a separation. The terms custody and contact rights are often mixed up or used synonymously. This leads to confusion because legally speaking, they are completely different things.