When deciding on a divorce, the court also generally rules on the guilt of the spouses (or one of them) for breaking down their marriage. The reasons for blaming one of the spouses can be, as case law shows, very different.
In his „Commentary to some provisions of the Family and Guardianship Code …” Zdzisław Krzemiński indicates an interesting case in which one of the spouses may be blamed for decaying the marriage – refusal to have sex. Article 23 of the Family and Guardianship Code actually states that spouses are obliged to live together, and the judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court of February 12, 1997, reference number I SA 1638/95 explains that living together consists of psychological, physical and economic bonds. In the commentary, Krzemiński cites two decisions of the Supreme Court. The first of them from November 15, 1951 with reference number C 1003/51 states that „Making a relationship with my husband dependent on” rewriting „an apartment in the name of a wife and donating her furniture – can be considered the wife’s complicity in deepening the already existing decay (…)”. However, in the second of May 2, 1952, signatures C 1095/51, we can read: „A marriage that does not proceed to fulfill the obligations imposed by the conclusion of a marriage (…) is from the very beginning dead and does not fulfill its tasks social (…). The mere refusal of one of the spouses to commence intercourse can be regarded as an important reason for the breakdown of a marriage, and her motive would be relevant for the assessment of guilt in causing the breakdown of that marriage. ” Nevertheless, it is obvious that such a guilt will not be pronounced if the refusal to have sex was related, for example, to physical violence or other harm.