A couple in Austria have married and divorced each other 12 times in the last 43 years, even as neighbours described their relationship as a ‘model marriage’.
Their yo-yo marriage was allegedly all part of a ploy to profit €326,000 (£270,400) from the country’s pension system.
The pair are now under investigation for serious fraud after their cycle of weddings and divorces exploited a loophole in Austrian law that allowed the wife to claim €27,000 (£22,400) with each new marriage.
The wife, who has actually been married 13 times, began receiving a widow’s pension from the state to support her financially after the death of her first husband in 1981, according to Bild.
Just a year later, the now 73-year-old married her second husband for the first time, who is a few years younger than her.
They divorced six years later in 1988, citing an ‘irreparable breakdown’ of their marriage due to his work as a lorry driver.
This separation kicked off a cycle of marriage, divorces and re-marriage, with each new marriage lasting roughly three years.
However, investigators discovered that the couple had never been separated at all during their revolving-door relationship. Instead, neighbours and relatives testified that the couple lived together the entire time, including sharing meals and a bed.
Witnesses even described their relationship as a ‘model marriage’.
Their on-again, off-again marriage was all concocted to scam Austria’s pension insurance system and maximise earnings from this widow’s pension that the wife was receiving.
After marrying her second husband, the wife received a one-off €27,000 settlement in compensation for the fact that re-marriage stops payment of the widow’s pension.
Each time the couple divorced, however, the law allowed the widow’s payments to the wife to continue again, meaning she could claim the €27,000 compensation for all the 11 other times they wedded again.
This went on for decades, allowing the pair to net €326,000 (£270,400) from the pension scheme.
When the pension fund finally refused to pay-out, the pair sued and the Austrian Supreme Court dismissed their case in March 2024, ruling that their exploitation of the legal loophole was unjustified.
Police in Graz, Austria, have now opened an investigation for serious fraud and a trial is expected.
The couple are, for now, married as the 12th divorce was not recognised by authorities.
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