Court issues freezing order on foreign assets in a marital dispute

In a petition for the protection of matrimonial interests, the wife – represented by Steinegger Rechtsanwälte – motioned, inter alia, the Obersimmental-Saanen District Court to superprovisionally freeze various accounts of her husband as well as a possible safety deposit box at the local bank.
Both parties were neither domiciled nor habitually resident in Switzerland and neither one had Swiss citizenship. However, the application was for a freezing order on foreign assets which were located here.
According to applicable foreign law, and in the absence of a marriage contract, the spouses had a community of property marital regime, which is basically similar to the Swiss system of acquired property. According to Swiss law, the common estate is to be equally divided between the parties upon dissolution of the property commune. No own property existed.
The applicant asserted her claim of serious, significant and imminent endangerment of her rights. From the outset, the aim was to safeguard the economic subsistence of the family. Without immediate legal protection, the family's current standard of living was endangered. Furthermore, the financial obligations of the husband towards the marital communion needed to be safeguarded (maintenance contributions, property rights). The applicant asserted her claims pursuant to foreign law as well as comparable Swiss law.
Since the first instance court did grant the superprovisional judicial protection, but not the definitive measure, the applicant had to appeal to the High Court of the Canton of Bern.
With its order of 02.12.2010 (APH 10 486), the Appeal Court sanctioned the wife's petition to the greatest possible extent.