Mum loses child custody after ex-hubby learns of remarriage

abu dhabi — A mother was using the cash paid to her by her ex-husband in monthly alimony and expenses for their children, who stayed with her, to cater for her new husband, an Abu Dhabi court was told.

The Abu Dhabi Family Court relieved the Emirati dad from the burden of spending 75 per cent of his salary on paying house rent and other expenses for his three children and ex-wife when the court found out that the woman got married to another man after divorcing the children’s dad. He also got the custody of his children as per a court order.

The father said his ex-wife, who had produced a child with her new husband, also stayed in the house he rented for his children with her new man and that the couple also enjoyed the money he was paying for the expenses of his children.

Court documents stated that the couple had separated a few years ago because of family differences. And after their divorce, custody of the three children was granted to their Arab mother.

The court had ordered the Emirati man to pay a total of Dh30,000 monthly to his ex-wife, including money for school fees of the children, rent for a three-bedroom house, utility bills, salary of a housemaid, a car that transports the children and alimony to the woman who was not working.

The man said he earned Dh40,000 and that he was spending 75 per cent of his pay to cater for the expenses of his children and their mother.

And one day, while visiting an ill friend in a hospital in the Capital, he accidentally met his exwife after she gave birth to her new baby there.

The man then made inquiries and found out that the woman had travelled back to her home country where she got married to another man, without his knowledge. She then brought the man with her and the couple stayed together in the home which the Emirati was paying rent for his kids and their mother.

He immediately filed a case in the family court, requesting to relieve him from the burden of paying alimony to his ex-wife because the woman was already married to another man.

The man also requested that custody of his children be stripped off their mother and granted to him because he was not comfortable with his kids staying in the same house with another man. The court cancelled the earlier ruling that ordered the Emirati to pay monthly expenses to his exwife and granted custody of the kids to their mother.

The judge also ordered that the custody of the children has been granted to their father who should now be taking care of them.