LA PENSIÓN COMPENSATORIA O COMPENSACIÓN POR DESEQUILIBRIO EN LOS PROCESOS DE SEPARACIÓN O DIVORCIO.

Abstract

Compensation or payment of a compensatory sum is one of the asset-related measures that may be taken in situations of matrimonial crisis, such as separation or divorce. Compensation may be contrasted with other measures, such as the payment of maintenance obligations and the assignment of the right to use the family home, which also give rise to important instances of casuistry in the moral philosophical sense. Compensation is also a measure where autonomy of will has a special role to play in proceedings. In short, it is one of the measures that generate the most controversy. Compensation may be established in a regulating agreement agreed to by the spouses and approved by the court. In addition compensation may be substantiated in litigious action of the sort that is growing constantly nowadays. After the reform in Act 15/2005 of 8 July, it is now possible to arrange for compensation through mechanisms such as a temporary set of payments or a single contribution, which may consist in a lump sum or the delivery of certain property, determined under a series of criteria or factors (Article 97 of the Civil Code gives a list of examples of such criteria or factors). The purpose of the measure is essentially to compensate for or correct a situation of economic imbalance created for one of the spouses as a consequence of separation or divorce and causing that spouse's asset situation to be worse than it was during marriage.