The Austrian legal system has always provided for property claims that can be made against parents on the occasion of marriage. Over time, many terms for this have become common in law and colloquial language, including trousseau, dowry or dowry. However, these terms are now outdated. The current and legally correct term since 2010 is "equipment"[1].
The endowment is a special maintenance claim and obliges parents to support their child when it enters into a marriage for the first time. The parents (or if they cannot afford it, then the grandparents) then owe the child concrete help in starting a household and family.
The extent of this start-up assistance depends on the parents' income and assets. As a guideline, case law has developed the principle that approximately 25-30% of annual income is decisive[2]. If both parents earn something, the incomes are added together. The entitlement is then calculated from the total income. Previous gifts do not reduce the entitlement and voluntary contributions to the costs of the wedding only do so if this is discussed.
However, the claim is excluded if the child who is getting married has significant assets of their own and therefore does not need any start-up assistance. However, if the child has an average income or assets, the courts assume that start-up assistance is indeed needed. In other words, the benefit is only lost if the child has an above-average income or assets.
The income or assets of the person you are marrying, however, are irrelevant. Even if you marry a millionaire, you can ask your parents to pay if the other requirements are met.
In practice, legal disputes over the endowment often go all the way to the Supreme Court, especially since the sums involved can be quite considerable: for example, in 2008 a bride demanded EUR 327,000 from her mother. However, the Supreme Court let her go empty-handed, because the bride already had enough of her own and therefore no longer needed any help getting started[3].
This article was provided by
JOHANNES HEBENSTREIT, LL.M.*
*University of Cambridge
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[1] See § 1220 of the General Civil Code (ABGB). The provision of § 1218 ABGB, which provided for the “marriage property”, was repealed by the legislature on 1 January 2010.
[2] See, for example: OGH of 19 August 1997, 10 Ob 262/97w.
[3] Supreme Court of 26 February 2008, 1 Ob 151/07y.
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