When dissolving an existing marriage, the court makes decisions regarding various aspects of the spouses’ previous life together. One of these areas is decisions regarding the use of the spouses’ joint apartment. This is stated in Art. 58 § 4 of the Family and Guardianship Code, specifying the premises on which the court decision should be based:
„When ruling on the joint residence of the spouses, the court takes into account, first of all, the needs of the children and the spouse to whom it entrusts the exercise of parental authority.” On the basis of the above provision, a problem arose as to whether the phrase: „cohabitation” refers to every case when the court rules on the subject of cohabitation or only the situation when it abolishes the matrimonial community of property. By decision of September 21, 2022, file reference number: I CSK 2590/22, the Supreme Court ruled that the wording of Art. 58 § 4 of the Family and Guardianship Code applies to „From the linguistic interpretation of Art. 58 § 4 k.r.o. it follows that this provision applies to every case where the court rules on the joint residence of the spouses, not only the situation of dissolution of the joint property regime, each case where the court rules on the joint residence of the spouses. The argumentation of the Supreme Court was based on both linguistic and systemic interpretation: „The systemic interpretation also speaks in favor of such an understanding, as this provision was placed in the section regulating the termination of marriage, not the abolition of the statutory matrimonial property regime.” In other words, regardless of the regimes existing between the spouses property, the court decision will be based on the provisions of Art. 58 § 4 k.r.o.