Comperative study of the poverty alimony in Turkish and Swiss law

Family holds a special place in our law. The Turkish legislator explicitly emphasized how much importance he attached to the family by giving place to detailed regulations for the family in the Civil Code. A family is fundamentally a unit formed by the foundation of marriage. The desired thing in society and the legal order is that marriage continues for a lifetime. However, not all marriages end in death, contrary to expectations. Divorce is regulated by the Civil Code to prevent spouses from being forced to remain in a marriage they no longer desire to continue. With the dissolution of a marriage, the emotional and financial relationships between spouses end. Poverty alimony is regulated in Article 175 of the Turkish Civil Code, titled Poverty Alimony. Accordingly, the party who will experience poverty due to the divorce may request alimony proportionally to the economic power of the other party for an indefinite period, as long as he has not faulted more than his spouse. In practice and doctrine, poverty alimony has consistently raised objections regarding its existence, purpose, and duration. The poverty alimony is rooted in Article 125 of the Swiss Civil Code, which regulates post-marital maintenance. In this thesis, the alimony of poverty in Turkish and Swiss law will be compared, and the similarities and differences in alimony in both law systems will be examined.