Wealthy husband’s selfishness condemned by judge in divorce ruling
The Western Cape High Court has delivered a powerful judgment against a wealthy husband who attempted to shirk his financial responsibilities during divorce proceedings. Judge Daniel Thulare condemned the husband's claims that his wife should seek support from her affluent family before approaching him for maintenance.
Image: File
The Western Cape High Court has strongly condemned a wealthy husband for his selfishness, saying that his wife should first seek financial support from her parents before turning to him for maintenance.
In a judgment delivered by Judge Daniel Thulare during ongoing divorce proceedings, the court awarded R3,000 per month for the maintenance of their minor child and R25,000 per month for the wife's support.
“I find it extremely selfish and lacking in self-respect to hear a rich husband who can afford to maintain his wife, claiming that the wife must first look to her own parents to support her, before she can approach him for her maintenance.
“It is a serious patriarchal misdirection and frankly, behaviour that shows lack of good sense and judgment, which is anchored on plain greed and is intended purely to hurt another. It is never about maintenance but revenge. It is a thinking that stands to be rejected,” said Judge Thulare.
The court also ordered that the husband must keep both the child and the wife on his medical aid or any medical aid with the same benefits that they were enjoying and that he continued bearing all the child’s schooling expenses, including school clothing, after-care fees, stationery, and equipment.
The court order also stipulated that the wife would have sole use of the VW Touareg vehicle currently in her possession and that the husband keep the car fully paid for, maintained, and insured.
Additionally, the husband was ordered to contribute R200,000 towards the wife’s costs in the divorce matter.
An excerpt from the judgment noted: “The respondent (husband) alleged that the applicant’s (wife) family was extremely wealthy, and that she was a beneficiary of a substantial Family Trust and was critical of the applicant moving out of her family home, to which she had temporarily moved after leaving the common home.
“While the respondent argued that the applicant was easily able to meet her reasonable and actual monthly expenses from her own resources, he relied, in this conclusion, on the alleged wealth of the Family Trust founded by her father, and not on her own means.
Judge Thulare said the husband would not volunteer the nature, scope, and extent of the wealth of his own volition.
It emerged in court that the husband is a director of several companies, each of which is a separate entity. He owns, among others, property worth closer to R8 750 000, while other properties are registered in the company or trust names.
Judge Thulare highlighted that where parents are divorcing, it is common to find them busy fighting and denigrating each other, but added that parents should arrange for situations where children function in an emotional comfort zone.