In Spain, a 57-year-old woman obtained the right to receive an unlimited compensatory pension of 600 euros per month, and compensation of 80 thousand euros, after the court considered that she spent 32 years dedicated to the home during her marriage, without being able to develop her own professional career.
According to , a Spanish website specialized in legal and labor matters, which cites the sentence SAP PO 454/2026 of the Provincial Hearing of Pontevedra, identified in CENDOJ with ECLI ES:APPO:2026:454, the decision corrected an initial sentence that limited the pension to nine years. For the judges, the ex-wife’s practically total absence of a professional career made it unrealistic to admit that she could return to the job market in sufficient conditions to overcome the economic imbalance created by the breakdown of the marriage.
The lifetime pension has been described as having no time limit, but that does not mean it is untouchable under any circumstances. The Spanish Civil Code provides, in articles 100 and 101, that the compensatory pension can be modified if there are relevant changes in the economic situation of one of the spouses, and can be terminated if the cause that motivated it ceases, if the beneficiary remarries or lives maritally with another person.
Court lifted nine-year limit
The case stemmed from the dissolution of a marriage lasting more than three decades. The woman claimed that her dedication to her home and family prevented her from working and building economic autonomy. The ex-husband, aged 82, had developed business ventures, becoming the main breadwinner and accumulating significant personal assets, according to the same source.
In a first phase, the court recognized the woman’s right to a compensatory pension, but with a time limit. The ex-husband appealed, trying to cancel the pension or reduce it to six months. The woman also appealed, arguing that the benefit should not have a statute of limitations.
“Mere futurism or guesswork”
The Pontevedra Provincial Hearing considered that the pension should not be temporary. According to Noticias Trabajo, the judges argued that, in order to limit a compensatory pension in time, it is necessary to make a realistic judgment about the possibility of the economic imbalance disappearing within a certain period. The court rejected that this prediction was made based on simple optimism.
The ruling warned of the risk of falling into “mere futurism or guesswork”, an expression used to dismiss the idea that, at 57 years of age, without an established professional career and without specific training, a woman would be able to regain an autonomous economic position in a few years.
No career after more than 30 years of marriage
The court gave special weight to the length of the marriage and the woman’s life course. According to the decision cited by Noticias Trabajo, she had stopped working with a formal contract shortly before getting married and spent more than three decades out of the job market. The Hearing considered that, at that age and with that background, access to low-paid work, notably in the hotel sector, only appeared likely. It was based on this analysis that the Hearing removed the time limit initially set and recognized the pension without an end date, with the aim of protecting the most economically vulnerable part of the rupture.
Dedication to the home and caring for grandchildren
The case also involved compensation associated with domestic work performed during the marriage, under article 1438 of the Spanish Civil Code, applicable to the separation of property regime. The ex-husband tried to avoid this payment, claiming that the couple did not have children together and that there was domestic service. However, according to Noticias Trabajo, the Hearing considered that the continued hiring of domestic help was not proven.
The court also valued the dynamics of the marriage, concluding that the husband’s will prevailed in family decisions. The decision states that the woman was forced to give up professional activity outside the home. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that the woman took care of two grandchildren who belonged only to her husband for around ten years.
Compensation dropped to 80 thousand euros
Despite recognizing the right to compensation, the Court reduced the amount. The compensation initially set at R$192 thousand increased to R$80 thousand. The Hearing justified the reduction based on several factors: the lack of common children, the fact that the husband alone bore the economic expenses of the marriage and the need to avoid double compensation.
According to the same source, the judges understood that, when granting a compensatory pension with no time limit based precisely on exclusive dedication to the family, maintaining the initial compensation in full could mean compensating twice for the same facts.
What was at stake in the compensatory pension
In Spain, the compensatory pension is intended to correct the economic imbalance that separation or divorce causes in one of the spouses in relation to the other. Article 97 of the Spanish Civil Code provides that the spouse for whom separation or divorce causes economic imbalance, with worsening of their previous situation in the marriage, is entitled to compensation, which may take the form of a temporary pension, an indefinite pension or a single payment.
Article 1,438 of the same code establishes that work for the house is counted as a contribution to the marriage costs and may give the right to compensation fixed by the judge, in the absence of an agreement, at the time of the termination of the separation of property regime. In this case, the Hearing understood that the imbalance was structural. The woman had stopped working for decades, while her husband maintained and developed his economic activity. The decisive point was not just the existence of domestic tasks, but the accumulated impact of this dedication on the woman’s ability to earn her own income after the divorce.
And in Portugal, how does it work?
In Portugal, the law also provides mechanisms to protect the spouse who is in a more fragile economic situation after divorce, but the regime is not the same as the Spanish one. The Portuguese Civil Code establishes, in article 2016, that each spouse must provide for their own subsistence after divorce, but admits that either spouse has the right to maintenance, regardless of the type of divorce. The same regime allows the court to deny this right for obvious reasons of equity. When setting the value, article 2016-A requires that several factors be taken into account, including the duration of the marriage, the contribution provided to the couple’s economy, the age and state of health of the spouses, their professional qualifications and employment possibilities, the time they will have to dedicate to raising common children, their income, the existence of a new marriage or de facto union and all other relevant elements. The law also makes it clear that the creditor spouse has no right to demand maintenance of the standard of living that he or she enjoyed during the marriage.
Recent jurisprudence from the Superior Court of Justice has highlighted that the alimony obligation between ex-spouses is, as a rule, exceptional and transitory in nature, and should only last as long as is considered necessary for the adaptation of the needy ex-spouse to an economically independent subsistence. Only in exceptional situations may it not be temporary. There is also a distinct figure, provided for in article 1,676 of the Civil Code, linked to the contribution to the costs of family life. The law provides that, if the contribution of one of the spouses was considerably higher than what was due, due to excessive renunciation of the satisfaction of their interests in favor of life together, notably their professional life, with significant financial losses, that spouse may demand compensation from the other.
In other words, in Portugal, a similar situation would have to be analyzed on a case-by-case basis. Exclusive dedication to the home, the length of the marriage, age, lack of a professional career, the ability to return to the job market and the economic imbalance created by the divorce could weigh on eventual alimony between ex-spouses and, in certain cases, on property compensation. But there is no automatic rule that guarantees an unlimited pension or fixed compensation just because a person dedicated himself to the house during the marriage. The result will always depend on the evidence presented in court, the economic situation of both parties and the specific circumstances of family life.
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