Gauteng Father Slapped With R2.2 Million Bill for Failing to Pay Maintenance for 27 Years

• A Gauteng father may lose everything after he was presented with a bill for a divorce that happened 27 years ago
• The man did not keep up with maintenance payments or his daughter’s education fees, which was part of the divorce agreement
• If the Gauteng man fails to come up with the money, his wife has the right to seize all his assets to cover the cost

JOHANNESBURG – A Gauteng man must come up with R2.2 million to pay an accumulated maintenance bill, or else his ex-wife will seize all his assets.

The Johannesburg High Court ruled earlier this week after Judge Leicester Adams found that the man had either short-changed or reneged on payments on his divorce settlements.

Business Insider reported that the divorce agreement, reached in September 1995, stipulated that the man must pay monthly maintenance of R750 for the couple’s daughter and cover her education costs.

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He also agreed to pay half his daughter’s medical and dental fees. His wife claims that by 2016, his obligation added up to a little over R230 000, but he paid nothing.

Judge Adams ruled that the father failed to prove how much he had paid in maintenance and, as such, it would be unjust to make his ex-wife wait any longer to receive what she was owed.

Court orders father to pay over R67 000 in monthly maintenance to wife and child

In a similar case, a man who told the court he could only afford to pay R2 000 in maintenance fees for his wife and child has been ordered to pay R67 000 monthly.

News24 reported that the couple is still married, but are estranged. The woman approached the court for help securing maintenance for herself and her child, who is still a minor.

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The R2 000 maintenance the man offered starkly contrasted with his property portfolio valued at R25 million.

While they were still together, the family enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle, including two international holidays a year. The court decided that the man must maintain that lifestyle for his wife and child.

South Africans react to the judgements

@MiloJele commented:

“Our family courts stay winning.”

Supreme Court of Appeal rules parents can claim maintenance on behalf of adult dependent children

In a related issue, Briefly News reported that a judgement from the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) found that it often takes time for young adults to obtain employment, and therefore parents can claim maintenance from partners they are separated from to support them.

The SCA acting Judge Pieter Meyer and four others found that mothers often carry the financial burden of adult children after divorce proceedings on Thursday, 21 July. The ruling follows an Eastern Cape woman’s appeal after the province’s high court found that she could not claim maintenance of her adult children, who were dependent on her.

Source: Briefly News