PIL instrument(s)

Case number and/or case name

OLG Koblenz, 18.06.2014 – 13 WF 564/14

Details of the court

Germany, Second Instance

Articles referred to by the court

Date of the judgement

17 June 2014

Appeal history

CJEU's case law cited by the court

Summary

The applicant was seeking an amendment of a court settlement regarding maintenance obligations towards his son, who is habitually resident in Peru together with his mother. The applicant and the creditor's mother are divorced. It was doubtful whether the German courts had jurisdiction under the Maintenance Regulation. The court first stated that, unlike pursuant to the former Art. 4 Brussels I Regulation, the rules of jurisdiction set out in the Maintenance Regulation also applied if the defendant was not resident in a Member State. However, jurisdiction pursuant to Art. 3 Maintenance Regulation had to be declined because neither the defendant nor the creditor – who was also the defendant in the case at hand – was habitually resident in Germany. Neither was the maintenance dispute in question ancillary to any proceedings mentioned in Art. 3 lit. c) or d) Maintenance Regulation. The court lacked sufficient information as to whether the applicant and his son were German citizens and, therefore, did not exercise jurisdiction on grounds of common nationality pursuant to Art. 6 Maintenance Regulation.