Couple Swindled Over 35 Years of Widow's Pension with Divorce Fraud

A couple from Graz is suspected of having abused divorce law by repeatedly marrying and subsequently divorcing over a period of 35 years. A now 73-year-old woman got married and divorced a total of twelve times in order to maintain her claim to a widow's pension. The damage amounts to more than 326,000 euros, as the Styrian State Police Directorate announced on Tuesday.

Graz Couple Married Twelve Times in a Row

The investigations of the Graz Criminal Department were set in motion by a ruling of the Supreme Court on March 12, 2024, in this case: The highest court stated that "the repeated marriage and subsequent divorce from the same spouse is abusive if the marriage was never broken and the divorces only took place in order to establish a claim to a widow's pension" (OGH 10 ObS 108/23i). It was investigated whether this could apply to the now 73-year-old woman and her husband.

The now 73-year-old widow first married her second husband in 1982. She divorced him for the first time six years later. This gave her a claim to a widow's pension again. The couple, who lived together in the same household throughout this time, practiced this procedure eleven more times until 2022.

Alternately Received Widow's Pension and Severance Pay

After a waiting period of two and a half years, the woman was alternately paid the legally entitled widow's pension or a severance payment - amounting to 2.5 times the annual receipt of the widow's pension. After the last divorce in May 2022, the pension insurance institution refused to grant the widow's pension again. However, the affected woman fought this negative decision up to the Supreme Court, which ultimately confirmed the legal opinion of the lower courts.

Upon completion of the police investigations, the police confirmed the criminally relevant suspicion that the pensioner couple consciously chose this procedure in mutual agreement in order to gain a financial advantage from the partly tax-privileged benefits. From the point of view of those interviewed during the investigations, the two had never actually lived separately and led a "model marriage" for more than three decades. The environment is said to have not noticed the repeated marriages and divorces at all.

Couple Scammed 326,000 Euros with Fraud Scheme

The currently married couple, according to the police, did not confess and refused to make statements. The total damage to the detriment of the pension insurance institution was estimated at more than 326,000 euros. The couple will be reported to the Graz Public Prosecutor's Office on suspicion of serious commercial fraud.

According to the Styrian State Police Directorate, the police are focusing on combating social benefit fraud nationwide with the introduction of their own "Task Force SOLBE". In Styria, almost a sevenfold increase in these offenses has been observed in the past ten years (2014: 55; 2023: 371). This was mainly explained by intensive investigative work with an almost 100 percent clearance rate and increased networking with organizations and partners. Nationwide, investigators in 2023 identified about 4,650 suspects and uncovered damage amounting to around 25.5 million euros, the strongest annual balance since the existence of the "Task Force SOLBE".

(APA/Red)

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