Husband threatened to bill wife over living with mother-in-law

A MAN told his wife he would send her a bill for having her ‘exceptionally difficult’ and ‘disruptive’ mother in their home.

He told a family law court that his 78-year-old mother-inlaw broke a number of boundaries including coming into the marital bedroom in her underwear one morning when he was having a lie-in with his wife;

He also claimed she rearranged his socks, underwear and shirts in his wardrobe and came into the en-suite bathroom when he was drying himself after a shower.

He said: ‘For me, enough was enough,’ and added: ‘I cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner for her non-stop. I make her favourite dish, sherry trifle and she pours the extra bit of sherry for herself.’

The court in Ennis, Co. Clare heard the couple’s marriage had ‘irretrievably broken down’ early last year due to a financial issue, and the presence of the motherin-law has been a continuing source of tension.

The man was giving evidence in a case in which his wife sought a Safety Order against him, but Judge Fiona Lydon dismissed the application.

The wife said her husband told her that ‘I can expect from his solicitor a bill for my mother staying in the family house’.

She added: ‘However, I pay all the bills.’

One flashpoint was on Christmas night last when the man was watching a Tommy Fleming concert on TV.

He said: ‘I poured myself a glass of wine and at around 11.45pm, the mother just burst through the door and she was ranting about the television being on. I was highly offended – this woman was a guest in my house.’

The court also heard the man spent €900 on shrubs and plants and that the mother-in-law pulled up plants that didn’t appeal to her and threw them in the bin.

She has been staying with the couple, off and on, for a number of years but arrived last June and remained there until recently.

The man said he would have ‘no problem’ if she came three or four times a year spending three or four weeks at a time.

He said: ‘But the thing is she is a guest in my house. She cannot – I’m sorry – she cannot be allowed to raise her voice at me and tell me what I can watch and can’t watch on television.

‘I am sorry – well, if she can do that, there then is something awfully wrong with our society.’

He said his marriage was over after he felt that he had been ‘played’ by his wife when he claimed she reneged on a commitment on the ownership of their home after he spent €100,000 renovating it.

But the woman’s solicitor said she paid half the deposit for the home and has repaid all mortgage payments to date.

The man rejected allegations that he had threatened violence against his wife or is capable of violence. He said: ‘That’s nonsense. Absolute nonsense.’

He said he looked after his wife very well and that any time he returned from overseas, he would buy his mother-in-law perfume while his wife ‘would get a €600 dress’. He added: ‘She got a €12,500 engagement ring. This woman is spoiled’.

However, while Judge Lydon dismissed the case, she said that the wife was obviously stressed due to the relationship breaking down and she asked the husband ‘to treat her with the respect she is due’.

‘She ranted about the TV being on’