Der “gewöhnliche Aufenthalt“ im Internationalen Familienrecht – Versuch einer Klärung

• Jurisdiction: European Union
• Year: 2021
• Author: Gottfried Musger

Speaker

Dr. Gottfried Musger is a Judge at the Supreme Court of Justice of Austria Vienna. After studies of law in Graz (Austria) and Saarbrücken (Germany), Gottfried Musger started his judicial career in 1995 at the District Court of Graz. Having served at various other courts of first and second instance, he was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2006. His main areas of work have been intellectual property and unfair competition law, wills and successions, tort law, arbitration law and insolvency law. He is the director of the Research and Documentation Office of the Court.

In addition to his work as a judge, Gottfried Musger served as the Austrian representative to working groups of the Council of European Union on questions of private international law and to the Hague Conference on Private International Law. He has authored several works on civil law, civil procedure and private international law, and he teaches civil law at the Universities of Graz and Vienna.

Topic

In his comprehensive exploration of the development and function of the concept of "habitual residence" within the European Union (EU) regulations on family law, Gottfried Musger delves into a multitude of resolved and unresolved questions arising from the case law of the European Court of Justice (ECJ). Through meticulous analysis, Musger sheds light on the intricate legal framework that has evolved around this pivotal concept, which plays a crucial role in determining jurisdiction and applicable law in cross-border family matters within the EU.

The concept of habitual residence serves as a cornerstone in the EU's efforts to facilitate legal certainty and promote harmonization in family law matters across member states. By ascertaining the habitual residence of an individual or a family member, courts can ascertain which country's laws should apply in cases relating to divorce, child custody, child abduction, and other sensitive family-related issues.

Musger navigates through a series of landmark ECJ rulings that have shaped the interpretation and application of the habitual residence concept. Through these rulings, the ECJ has provided valuable insights into the determination of...