Husband to pay wife compensation for refusing to divorce
July 23, 2008 3:06 pm Other Divorce News
An Ultra-Orthodox woman who had years of physical abuse from her husband filed for divorce back in 1998, the cruel actions of her husband forced her to flee with her three children, and file for divorce, but he refused to divorce her.
The case reached the High Rabbinical Court; the judge ruled the husband must give her a divorce.
But the husband still refused to divorce a good two years after the ruling. So the women decided enough was enough and appealed at the family court, wanting compensation for the denial of her right to marry again and the distress her husband had put her under throughout their marriage.
The courts up until then ruled that damages should be paid as soon as the divorce is finalised, but with the new ruling it allows the wife to sue for damages for all the years her husband denied her the divorce, this also includes the years her law suit spends pending in court.
In the Jerusalem Family Court on Monday, Judge Ben Zion Greenberger ruled that a husband who refused to give his wife a divorce for nine years will compensate her with NIS 550,000 which is roughly about £79,000. He also added that if a husband is not required by the court to divorce his wife, he will still compensate her for refusing.
It seems that finally the civil courts have realised that the rabbinical courts take too long in enforcing divorces, and have now decided to treat women justly.
