The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria ruled the cheating husband who left home 14 years ago is entitled to his share of the house. File Picture
A Pretoria woman who wanted to keep the house she once shared with her cheating ex-husband for herself, didn’t get her way after the court found that his misconduct was not enough to order a forfeiture of the joint estate.
The former couple were married in community of property in April 2002 and had two sons in the marriage.
The ex-wife testified that while they were still married, in November 2009, she found her then husband in bed with another woman in their matrimonial home and he left home the same day.
She instituted divorce proceedings in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria in June 2023, after 14 years of living separately.
She added that for the past five years, the ex-husband had been making R8,000 payments towards spousal maintenance and he completed payments on the house.
She continues to live at the house with their 18-year-old son who is still at school. The first born moved out.
Furthermore, she submitted that she works part-time jobs and as a result, she wants the ex-husband to continue paying her spousal maintenance until she dies or remarries.
Through her lawyer, she argued that her ex-husband needed to forfeit his share of the the house due to the circumstances leading to the marriage breakdown which was caused by him having an extra-marital affair.
When looking at the evidence, judge N Mazibuko said it was worth considering that the ex-husband solely paid for the house until it was paid up. Moreover, he has been paying spousal maintenance for five years which the ex-wife used to take care of the household needs.
“I am not satisfied that if the forfeiture order is not made, the defendant (husband) will unduly be benefiting in relation to the plaintiff (wife),” said the judge.
Regarding the spousal maintenance, the judge said there were no factors represented by the ex-wife regarding her financial needs and her family’s standard of living before divorce.
Therefore, there was no justification for granting an order of spousal maintenance until the wife passes away or remarries.
Instead, the judged ordered the ex-husband to pay the ex-wife R4,000 spousal maintenance until end of January 2025.
The ex-husband was also ordered to pay R4,000 maintenance for his 18-year-old son until he is self-supporting.
The ex-wife will also get 50% of her ex-husband’s pension fund and they will also share proceeds of the house, should they decide to sell.
IOL News