Family Court lets wealthy wife keep the lot

2StandardDeviations · 2011-12-07T02:43:39+00:00

But, the court said, it would be “a form of social engineering” to take money from the wife and give it to the husband “merely because they went though the act of marriage in 1991″.

Amazing how obvious this is when a man benefits, and how impossible it is to see when a woman benefits.

punnada · 2011-12-07T00:18:10+00:00

IT is taken as given that when a man gets divorced after 21 years he’s going to lose a large chunk of whatever fortune he has made to his ex-wife.

What, though, if it’s the wife who has made all the money? Does she lose half too? Well, its seems NOT!

punnada · 2011-12-07T03:02:28+00:00

This is what really strikes me.

The selective arguments depending on what gender the beneficiary is.

I am pretty sure that if a male with significant assets tries to use this judgment as a precedent, he will be told that it doesn't apply in his case.

sumzup · 2011-12-07T06:31:43+00:00

I don't really see this decision as a problem. The facts of this case can easily be distinguished from your typical decision which distributes the wealth between the parties to a divorce.

First, the couple married old, after both were financially established. Neither contributed much to the success of the other party. Both continued their business in their own names.

Second, it is clear that they kept their finances separate to a high degree, including invoicing one another for some purchases.

Third, there are apparently no children or dependants to account for.

Fourth, the financial ruin of the husband was entirely foreseeable, and entirely his own fault. His wife did not induce him to purchase a boat for their common use, and appears not to have used it at all. He bought the boat, he sailed to boat by himself, and did it all to the detriment of his own finances. He would have known he could not repay the interest without working, and could not rely on his wife for the payments, as she wanted no part of it.

Fifth, the husband appears to have wanted to use the marriage as a piggy bank. This is an apparent "unclean hands" situation, where the court should not benefit the party attempting to abuse the legal relationship between the two. For example; he retired shortly into it (2 years) and began spending money at an unsustainable rate. He tried to get his wife to guarantee his debts, and she refused him. She did offer him a loan for the boat she didn't want, but he made no attempt to repay it.

To force the wife to pay off his bad debts, when he really offered nothing to the marriage, would be to do exactly what it is that /r/MensRights is usually upset about it. That is, taking from the party who earned the money to subsidize an irresponsible individual who appears to have married for the money.

TracyMorganFreeman · 2011-12-07T06:24:34+00:00

Mr Baumann said: “It must be recorded that the comparative positions stem from the wife’s superior initial financial position and the poor decision-making by the husband.”

The irony is rich in this one.

prokopios · 2011-12-07T03:33:05+00:00

it would be “a form of social engineering”

Isn't that the whole intention of the family law act? To redistribute wealth from those who earn it, to those who need it?

In this case this man desperately needed money, and if not half the assets, why not spousal support?

Sounds like another transparent argument simply designed to disadvantage the male in this dispute.

glensaid2 · 2011-12-07T12:36:54+00:00

I think the point is that if the wife was the one in need of money, regardless of whether she directly contributed or not, then this would have been enough for her to get a large junk.

being male however, the rules seem to change.

Lawtonfogle · 2011-12-07T15:27:56+00:00

I find no fault in this ruling. I only question if it would have been applied in reverse. Honestly, this is the ruling that should be used no matter what the genders are.

Title	Family Court lets wealthy wife keep the lot
Author	punnada
Upvotes	26
Comments	14
Date	December 7, 2011 12:17 AM UTC (14 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/n371e/family_court_lets_wealthy_wife_keep_the_lot/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/family-court-lets-wealthy-wife-keep-the-lot.1030870 https://theredarchive.com/post/1030870

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