Case Studies

Case Study 1: Andrzej, living in Austria, and Ewa, living in Poland, married in Poland. After six monhs of a long distance relationship, Ewa managed to find employment in Austria and joined Andrzej.

Years later, Ewa, who had always relied on the Polish statutory regime of community property, is very surprised to hear that, according to Austrian law as the law of the parties' first common habitual residence, Andrzej is the sole owner of the Austrian family home he bought in his own name and is now considering to sell.   

Case Study 2: Anton and Lara, two Slovenian nationals, had been cohabiting informally in Lubljana for more than three years. The couple later moved to Austria on a permanent basis.

Tragically, Lara has a car accident and dies intestate. Under Slovenian law, Anton would have the same inheritance rights as a spouse. According to Austrian succession law, Anton does not receive any share in the estate. 

Case Study 3: Years ago, Jan, a Czech national met Franz, a German national, in Berlin, where they entered into a registered partnership. Both had alwways been planning to move to the Czech Republic sometime in the future.

Jan is surprised to hear that they are living under the German regime of community of accrued gains, which means that Jan would have to pay to Franz, in the event of dissolution of the partnership, half of the value of a flourishing software company Jan founded after the registration of the partnership, which could not be the case under Czech law.