Pursuant to Art. 130 of the Act of February 25, 1964 – Family and Guardianship Code (i.e. Journal of Laws of 2020, item 1359) – hereinafter referred to as K.r.o., obligation of one spouse to provide means of subsistence to the other spouse after dissolution or annulment of the marriage or after a decision separation precedes the maintenance obligation of the spouse’s relatives.
The above issue is part of the wider context of the institution of alimony under civil law. Another legal act regulating the obligation of maintenance is, next to the k.r.o. Act of 23 April 1964 – Civil Code (i.e. Journal of Laws of 2022, item 1360, as amended) – hereinafter the Civil Code On the basis of the donation agreement in accordance with Art. 897 of the Civil Code the problem of the obligation arising on the side of the recipient arises when his donor falls into shortage, which consists in providing the donor, within the limits of the existing contribution, with funds that he lacks to maintain his justified needs or to fulfill the statutory obligations imposed on him. maintenance obligations
In the judgment of SA in Kraków of April 10, 2019 with reference number I ACa 575/18, the adjudicating panel argued that despite the fact that in accordance with Art. 130 k.r.o. the obligation of one spouse to provide means of subsistence to the other spouse after the dissolution or annulment of the marriage or after the decision of separation precedes the maintenance obligation of the spouse’s relatives, but the maintenance obligation of the recipients under Art. 897 of the Civil Code, within the limits specified in this provision, precedes the ex-spouse’s maintenance obligation, even in a situation where the donor’s relatives are the recipients. In this ruling, the judicature thus juxtaposed the legal regulations described above, giving priority over the maintenance obligation of divorced spouses to the maintenance obligation of the recipients, regardless of their family ties with the donor.