When is the date of the split between spouses in divorce proceedings? When the woman files a lawsuit to dissolve their financial partnership, or when the man actually leaves the joint residence? This issue was recently decided by the Family Court in Rishon LeZion, which heard a claim for balance of resources and division of rights, filed by Adv. Inbar Lev on behalf of the woman.
The couple married about 38 years ago and had two daughters, now adults. In 2004, the wife filed a claim for alimony and a claim for protection of rights, while the husband filed a suit to dissolve the asset sharing between them. In the ruling, handed down in 2006, the judge ruled that the date of the split between the couple is the day on which the woman filed the claim for alimony, and therefore she is entitled to half of the financial rights accrued from the date of marriage until the day of the split in 2004.
However, according to the claim for balance of resources filed by the woman, through Attorney Lev, the ruling handed down in 2006 was never upheld, since the couple continued, of their own free choice, to live together in their joint home as a couple for all intents and purposes, until the man left the house at the end of 2020. Therefore, Attorney Lev argued, the correct date of the split between the couple is the date on which the man left the house, and according to this date, the resources between them must be balanced.
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Divorced in 2004, man left in 2020 (Photo: ShutterStock)
According to Adv. Lev, during all those years in which the couple continued to live together under the same roof, no alimony was paid, the funds stipulated in the 2006 ruling were not transferred, and no divorce case was opened in the rabbinical court. Moreover, according to Lev, the two continued to sleep in the same bedroom, had an intimate relationship, maintained a joint household and even went on family vacations together.
The man argued in his defense that since the verdict was handed down, there has been no change in circumstances, and during these years he came to the condominium only a few times, and even that only to stay with his daughters and grandchildren, or to give the woman the maintenance check. According to the man, even when he arrived at the shared house, he was sleeping in a separate room, and since the verdict was handed down, he had already had two relationships - one of eight years, and now he is in another relationship of six years. The man also claimed that all property matters between him and his wife separately had already been settled, except for the issue of dissolution of the partnership in the residence. He said he and his estranged wife have two separate bank accounts, and the only reason they never divorced was because of tax considerations.
In the ruling, which was recently handed down in the Rishon LeZion Family Court, Judge Nachshon Fischer rejected the man's arguments and accepted the woman's argument regarding the date of the rift between the parties. Justice Fischer notes in his ruling that he was convinced that the parties lived under one roof and behaved internally and externally as spouses. According to Judge Fisher, although the internal relationship between the couple was conducted in the absence of communication, this was not unusual, since this has been their relationship since the beginning of the relationship.
Weighty economic consequences. Adv. Inbar Lev (Photo: Anat Kazula)
Regarding the financial aspect, Judge Fisher ruled that although the couple had separate bank accounts, the man continued to shop for the family and transfer money to the woman. "I found that this arrangement was convenient for both of them," Judge Fisher ruled, "the man chose to have relationships with other women at the same time, when the woman did not know about it."
The judge also ruled that the woman's testimony was credible to him, while the man's testimony was full of contradictions. Judge Fisher rejected the man's claim that he used to come to the condominium only to be with his daughters, noting that it had been proven that the man continued to live in the condominium, even after the two daughters had grown up and left the nest.
In light of all this, Judge Fisher ruled that the date by which the balance of resources should be determined is the day the man left home at the end of 2020.
According to Attorney Lev, who represented the woman, this court decision has a serious economic impact on the way rights are divided between the couple. According to her, in light of the ruling, the woman is entitled to half of her husband's financial rights, which accumulated from the day of marriage until the time the man left home in 2020, amounting to millions of shekels.
- Sheee
- Sex and relationships
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- divorce