Catalogue of questions: Money in the partnership

How much money do you need for your family's upkeep?
To calculate the requirements for the standard of living you are used to, it makes sense to set up a realistic budget. The Working Group of Swiss Budget Advice Centres will help you set up a budget on www.asb-budget.ch
If you set up a budget and discuss every item on the budget, you will see where your ideas differ. Try to negotiate solutions you both can agree upon.

Who will earn the money?

In the case of binational couples in particular, answering this question is closely linked to possibilities on the labour market. If your qualification is not recognised in Switzerland or if language skills are not sufficient, it can be difficult for you to find work or to earn an income that allows you to make a living. This can result in a situation where, at least temporarily, only one person can undertake gainful employment.
If the couple has children that need to be cared for, a decision needs to be reached about whether one parent will take on all the childcare, whether parents will share childcare or whether external childcare is an option - the latter will of course affect the budget further.

Who will take on responsibility for financial matters?

It makes sense to discuss in advance who will be responsible for the family's financial matters. Various solutions are possible:

• A joint family account can be opened for which one person takes on responsibility.
• Both spouses open or maintain their own accounts and contribute part of their money to the joint household. They negotiate how each person's share is to be calculated.

What is money spent on?
The question of which material needs a couple will be able to meet depends on the level of income. Irrespective of this level, it is important to think about how to decide on needs and wishes.

The topic of money in binational partnerships
It is important to think about the significance of money in the relationship. Here, ideas can vary considerably because every person has his/her own ideas and influences in financial issues, too.
How money is handled in a binational partnership also depends on the economic gradient between the couple's countries of origin and the financial circumstances and ideas of their families of origin. The habits and views of the binational couple can differ greatly, which can lead to conflicts as the following two examples show.

The family of origin in the native country of the foreign partner expects to receive money regularly from Switzerland. This commitment can lead to such pressure, especially in the case of emergencies such as illness, that the relative in Switzerland wishes to comply even if the income is not sufficient for the upkeep of the family based here in Switzerland.
Regular contact to one's family of origin is linked to costs (telephone calls, travel costs). It is necessary to find a compromise, with which everyone involved is comfortable, between the need to maintain this contact and the economic reality of a binational couple.

Legal questions: Money and partnership
"Spouses, each according to his/her capabilities, together provide for the proper maintenance of their family."

"Spouses are to come to an agreement on the contribution that each of them will make, namely by monetary payments, managing the household, looking after their children or by assisting in the other spouse's occupation or business. In so doing, they address the needs oft the matrimony and their personal circumstances."

(Swiss Code of Civil Law (ZGB) art. 163 para. 1, 2 and 3).

Obligation to support
The cited article from the Swiss Code of Civil Law (ZGB) states that both spouses bear financial responsibility for the family as a whole and not that each spouse bears responsibility for half. Who can contribute how much to family maintenance depends on individual possibilities, but also on the division of labour within the family (gainful employment and childcare). As a binding legal provision, the mutual obligation to support each other cannot be excluded, even with a contract.
In addition to earned income, insurance income and pension income, returns on assets and, if necessary, the assets themselves serve to pay for family maintenance. Profits from children's property can be used to cover their maintenance. However, children's property can only be touched with authorisation from the guardianship authority.
If income is not sufficient to cover the cost of living, you can apply for social welfare from the community you live in. A budget is set up based on the Swiss Conference for Social Welfare (SKOS) guidelines (which can be found on www.skos.ch) and financial support is paid if the calculated living requirements exceed income. (Recommended reading: Beobachter guidebook: "Am I entitled to social welfare?" ("Habe ich Anspruch auf Sozialhilfe?"))
If the spouses live separately, the mutual obligation to support each other remains the same. How income is distributed in this case needs to be clarified individually. Basically, spouses who live separately should, if possible, be able to maintain their existing standard of living. If the couple cannot reach an agreement, the court will have to decide.

Allowance
Both spouses are entitled to an allowance. Income needs to be taken into account when determining this amount (ZGB art. 164, para. 1 & 2).

Obligation to provide information
To protect their interests, spouses are obliged to provide each other with information about income, wealth and debts, if necessary also in writing, e.g. through bank statements. This right can be demanded by law (ZGB art. 170 para. 1 & 2).

Liability for debts
A couple is jointly liable for debts if both individuals are listed as debtors and they have both signed an acknowledgement of indebtedness or if the money was used to pay for their joint upkeep.
If one partner incurs debts to cover his/her own requirements, his/her partner is not liable, providing s/he is not listed as a debtor and has not signed an acknowledgement of indebtedness.
Both spouses are jointly liable for rental, health insurance and tax debts as long as they are not living separately and they are not divorced.
If you have any questions, please contact a debt counselling agency. You will find the address of your local debt counselling agency on the Web at www.schulden.ch.

You can also download a facht sheet on the subject of  "Marriage and Debts" from www.schuldenhotline.ch.

Post-marital maintenance
In the case of divorce, the amount of post-marital maintenance is determined. Distinctions are made between alimony for a spouse and alimony for children.
Divisions in terms of the law of matrimonial property also occur in the case of divorce. This includes dividing up pension fund assets and splitting the old-age and survivors' pension.
Seek advice from a specialist if you have any questions.

"Special case" of cohabitating couples
There are no legal regulations with regard to finances for cohabiting couples or for communal living of any kind.
For this reason it is urgently recommended that you set up an inventory and conclude a cohabitation contract that also regulates financial issues.
In the case of joint acquisitions (e.g. property), a contract should regulate what happens to joint possessions in the case of a separation.
As a cohabiting couple you should not invest your wealth in joint accounts.
Contracts should always be concluded in writing.
Cohabiting couples have no claims to benefits for surviving dependents. However, funds exist that provide benefits for cohabiting partners above the prescribed legal minimum. It is worth checking in each individual case and, if necessary, to have your partner confirm your entitlement to benefits in writing.

Recommended reading
Unverzagt, Gerlinde. "Liebe, Geld und Partnerschaft - Konflikte um Geld und wie man sie lösen kann." Kreuz Publishing House, 2000. ISBN 3-268-00261-7. ("Love, money and partnership - Conflicts involving money and how to solve them").

Arbeitsgemeinschaft Schweizerischer Budgetberatungsstellen: "Aus-kommen mit dem Einkommen, Haushaltbudgets heute" (=how to make ends meet - private budgets today), Orell Füssli, 1998, ISBN 3-280-02459-5.

Hoby Markus. "Das Schuldenhandbuch" (The Debt Handbook) Edition Soziothek, 2004, ISBN 3-03796-048-5.

Hauser Sonja. "Zusammen leben zusammen wohnen. Was Paare ohne Trauschein wissen müssen* (Living together, Residing together. What Couples without a Marriage Certificate Need to Know). Beobachter  Buchverlag, 2004, ISBN 3-85569-296-3

For the resolution of day-to-day problems as well as answers to personal questions refer to a Call Centre of our Association.

Last revision July 2008