Austrian Couple Married And Divorced 12 Times In 40 Years For This Reason

An Austrian couple, allegedly married and divorced 12 times over 43 years, is facing legal action from the government for alleged welfare fraud.

The 73-year-old woman has reportedly exploited a pension loophole, receiving over €326,000 (approximately ₹29.05 crore) in widow’s benefits since her first husband’s death in 1981.

The saga of this Austrian couple began in 1981 when the woman, then in her early thirties, became a widow after her first husband passed away. This tragic event entitled her to a widow’s pension, which she relied on for financial stability.

However, her life took an unusual turn when she allegedly remarried in 1982.

Each time she divorced and remarried—totaling 12 times over the last four decades—she would regain access to various financial benefits linked to her marital status.

Despite the seemingly tumultuous legal history, witnesses, including relatives and neighbours, assert that the couple never truly separated, maintaining a happy and seemingly "model" marriage while continuing to live together throughout this period, Newsweek reported.

However, in 1982, she remarried. This typically would have terminated her widow's pension. Yet, instead of losing the benefit, she received a $28,405 "severance payment" as compensation.

An Austrian court ruled in April that these payments were unjustified, triggering a formal fraud investigation that commenced last week.

The case, which unfolded in Graz, Austria, has raised significant legal and ethical questions.

The unusual case involves a woman who repeatedly regained her widow's pension following her divorce from her husband, a lorry driver whose job often kept him away from home. Their first divorce occurred in 1988, after about six years of marriage, with both citing the strain caused by the husband's frequent absences. Following the divorce, the woman's widow's pension was reinstated. However, when the pair remarried, she lost access to the pension again but received 27,000 pounds in compensation.

This cycle of marriage, divorce, and financial claims continued for decades.

Each of their marriages lasted roughly three years on average, and in total, the woman has been a bride at 13 weddings, with the same man as her groom for 12 of them. The couple themselves initiated legal proceedings when they sued the pension fund after the wife's most recent divorce in May 2022. Pension authorities had refused to reinstate her widow's pension, citing the suspicious pattern of their marital history.

Ref: Austrian Couple Married And Divorced 12 Times In 40 Years For This Reason (ndtv)