Judge puts end to wife’s demands for big cash
A MOTHER of five embroiled in divorce proceedings against her husband got far less than she bargained for after claiming she could not make ends meet since he left her.
The woman claimed she had a R60 000 a month shortfall and her grocery bill alone was R20 000 monthly.
The woman told the Limpopo High Court that she and her husband had lived a life of luxury in a five-bedroom house before he left. Now she had to “jiggle around” to make ends meet.
She said that as a result of his failure to contribute to the upbringing of their children, her monthly expenditure rocketed to R83 280.
Her take-home sal- ary was R23 000, and that left her with a monthly shortfall of R60 280.
She asked the court to order her husband to dig into his pocket and at least contribute R51 530 a month towards her and the minor children, pending the finalisation of the divorce.
While the respondent’s gross monthly salary is R26 000, the wife said he receives an annual bonus of R26 000, and also overtime pay which took his average monthly earnings to R40 000.
Besides that, she said, he was a wealthy businessman who operated a taxi business that gave him an average gross monthly income of R127 500.
They enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle before their separation and drove expensive cars, dined out a lot, bought expensive gifts for each other and also went on luxurious holidays.
She said their expenses were paid from the income derived from the respondent’s taxi business and their salaries. The wife said her husband recently bought a very expensive and luxurious Mercedes V-Class vehicle without her consent, with a monthly instalment of R25 000. Thus, she said, he had plenty of money to share with her and the children.
The husband, on the other hand, denied that they were living a luxurious lifestyle.
He said it was modest.
He said he had left the family home at the end of February last year when he realised that “his life was in danger as his wife was plotting to kill him”.
The respondent submitted that even after he had left home, he continued to make sure that his family was well-maintained.
He paid for his children’s school fees the same way he used to do over the years, despite his failing health and struggling business due to Covid-19.
The husband told the court that his wife’s claims were “a cocktail of half-truths, gross exaggerations, falsehoods and outright lies aimed at misleading the court in order to punish him unnecessarily just to vent her anger and hatred on him”.
He said he dropped groceries at her home each month and footed the bill for everything.
The judge said the wife’s monthly expenses seemed to have been exaggerated.
“The monthly grocery tab of R20 000, which is almost equal to the applicant’s net salary, is in my view not realistic.”
Seeing that the husband was paying for everything, he ordered that the man pay R1 000 a month for each child to cover for the unforeseen last-minute expenses such as a school trip.
“A cocktail of half-truths, gross exaggerations, falsehoods and outright lies
DEFENDANT child care maintenance case