Woman secures maintenance after Sharia divorce ruling

WHILE barriers remain for Muslim women wanting to access assistance through courts in dissolving their marriages, a recent court ruling secured maintenance and medical cover for a Cape Town woman.

- CHEVON BOOYSEN

The woman, who sought R12000, was granted monthly maintenance of R9000 after her second divorce from the same husband.

After a breakdown in their first Sharia marriage, the pensioner couple remarried in 2019, but earlier this year, the husband issued his wife a talaq (a written declaration of divorce in terms of Sharia law) in April.

At some stage in February, the woman left the shared common home in Vasco, Goodwood, and took up residence with one of her adult sons. She separated from her husband and had left the common home before the issuing of the talaq.

The husband previously paid his wife R11 000 per month, but since February, he has reduced the payments to amounts R1500 to R4000 per month. She was also maintained as a dependant on his medical aid plan, although the plan was changed.