R84 000 a month maintenance award to support lifestyle
A wife who made it clear that she was unprepared to tighten her belt pending her divorce with her husband, as she was accustomed to a certain lifestyle, turned to the court to demand the husband pay her R84 000 a month in maintenance and won.
According to a Pretoria News report, she told the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) that her husband and his new lover lived the good life while she struggled to make ends meet.
She said that during their marriage she was used to eating out at restaurants and going on local and overseas holidays.
As such, the wife said she needed R84 000 a month, pending their divorce.
She also wanted R180 000 in arrear maintenance.
The husband had agreed to pay her R60 000 a month, pending the divorce. He had done so for while but had then stopped because ‘he changed his mind’.
He said the wife did not need his money as her father was wealthy and she was a ‘trust fund kid’.
However, the wife said her only income was from an insignificant amount of interest from her bank account. She received various loan amounts from her father.
In a disclosure of her financial position to the court, it emerged the wife had four immovable properties registered in her name, but she said her husband received the rental income from two of the properties.
They are worth about R10.5m, notes the Pretoria News report.
The rental payments were not disclosed. The wife said that while the properties were hers, the husband had instructed tenants to not pay the rent to her.
The wife (52) also disclosed that she was driving a car valued at R400 000 and she had jewellery valued at R407 000.
She said she had stopped working shortly after they were married. They had enjoyed a high standard of living during the period they had lived together, including regularly holidaying locally and internationally.
Her husband, on the other hand, disputed his wife was in need of maintenance. He said she had the means to maintain herself.
The husband said he was unemployed and unable to get work because he had been declared a delinquent director.
He said his wife had no financial difficulties, given her property portfolio and the investments she owned.
She was the recipient of large sums of money from her father through a family trust he created for the benefit of his daughters, and was worth millions.
Regarding the various holidays the family enjoyed, the husband said his father-in-law funded the trips.
The court concluded that the wife is entitled to R84 000 a month maintenance, pending the divorce.
The judge said she is entitled to support on a scale commensurate with the social position, lifestyle and financial resources of the parties.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.