Wife wins legal battle for financial security after 30 years of marriage

A WOMAN who devoted more than three decades to looking after her husband, devoting her time to making his life easier, stood to walk away empty-handed in their divorce, as the husbands attitude was that she should have made provision for herself.

- ZELDA VENTER

But, the wife, 58, told the Pieter-maritzburg High Court that, although she assisted him in his business, looked after his five-year-old daughter from another marriage at one stage, and did all she could for him, he never allowed her access to cash, as he said he would provide.

The wife told the court that it is not easy to find a job at her age, and she is battling to make ends meet. Her husband, 70, even obtained a court order for the return of some of their furniture, which she took when she had to move out of their marital home and into a rental property.

While the husband believes that she should fend for herself, he did agree during the divorce proceedings that she did “normal things as a wife would do’, but added that they had full-time servants.