A WOMAN in South Africa has lost her legal bid to not share half of her pension benefits with her ex-husband who she said saw her as a ‘cash cow’.
She felt he had squandered most of his pension when he was paid out and thus did not deserve to have a share of hers.
But Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, Judge Colleen Collis disagreed. She said it appeared that the husband did pay off some of the common household debts when he received his pension, and bought necessities such as school uniforms for the children, local news outlet
Pretoria News reported.
Thus, the judge said, the wife had to pay the husband about R1.2 million ($70,680), which is half of her government pension, as part of the divorce settlement.
The husband, on the other hand, had used his pension earlier when he left his job and subsequently had no pension left to share with the wife.
The parties married in 2004 in community of property. There were no children born
in the marriage, although the husband entered the marriage with two children from a previous marriage. He is also the one who instituted divorce proceedings.
Apart from 50 percent of his now former wife’s pension fund, the husband also wanted monthly spousal maintenance. He later abandoned this request and said he would be satisfied with a divorce and half of her pension.
The wife, on the other hand, in her counter-application asked for a forfeiture of half of her pension which was supposed to go to her husband as they were married in community of property.
She told the judge that her husband had resigned in 2018 and received a pension payout in 2019 in the amount of R1.7 million. The wife said he never told her that he was going to resign from his job and according to her, apart from giving her R3,000, he pocketed or spent the rest of the money.
She said he was financially abusive towards her and failed to contribute his fair share towards the monthly expenses of the matrimonial home.
The woman said she was a good wife, as from the start she played a motherly role to the husband’s children who she raised almost single-handedly.
She had paid for almost all their expenses and had assisted the children in paying for school fees, university fees and medical aid. It was her testimony that the husband only married her to play the role of a mother to his children and to use her as a ‘cash cow’.
He, on occasion, also called her a ‘fat cat’, she told the court.
During the marriage he never bought her anything, nor did she receive any money from him, apart from the R3,000 he gave her of his pension payout. She said it would be unfair if he got half of her pension.
