Nursing home accommodation may not overburden spouses

BGH: Maintenance is to be measured as for separated couples
Karlsruhe (jur). If a spouse is hospitalized in a nursing home, the other partner must not be overcharged with the care costs. Even if the partner continues to be bound by marital solidarity, he is entitled to a "remunerated deductible" and not just the subsistence level, the Federal Supreme Court (BGH) in Karlsruhe ruled in a recent decision of 27 April 2016 (Ref .: XII ZB 485 / 14).

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In this specific case, a wife had to be cared for at a nursing center in a hospital. The monthly care costs amounting to 3,923 euros were largely borne by the social welfare agency. The plaintiff's wife, represented by a caregiver, demanded that her husband contribute € 132 a month to the nursing home expenses. Reason: The pensioner is obliged to "family maintenance" and must therefore raise a corresponding own share of his 1043 euro high pension

The husband, however, wanted to pay less. Due to the permanent housing of his wife in a nursing home, he is to be treated in terms of maintenance as if he were living apart from her. According to the relevant guidelines of the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Hamm, he was entitled to a "remeasured deductible" of € 1,000.

The applicant argued that the husband was not separated from her. He was therefore committed to family support according to the principle of "conjugal solidarity" and had to pay more.

The OLG ruled that the pensioner not only the subsistence minimum, but a "remunerated deductible" of 1,000 euros. He therefore only had to pay 43 euros a month for maintenance. The court oriented itself to the maintenance rates of separated couples.

This was confirmed by the BGH. The husband is indeed committed to family maintenance. This can normally be provided in the form of benefits in kind such as food and housing and includes everything "which is necessary for the financial management and the coverage of the personal needs of the spouses and any children", said the BGH. This could mean higher maintenance obligations than with separated couples. However, these regulations relate to the rule of domestic cohabitation.

Inpatient care is another situation. It is true that in the case of non-separated couples, a "higher degree of marital solidarity is generally to be demanded than after the separation". However, in the case of inpatient care accommodation, the debtor should not be overburdened with the cost of care. Here exceptionally, because of the accruing home and nursing care costs to pay a pension.

If family support and separation support were different in this nursing situation, the spouse who decides to separate from the spouse in need of care would be better off. This would then be further affected. The Higher Regional Court therefore correctly determined the pensioner's pay and his deductible. fle / mwo