The High Court has awarded a larger share of a divorced couple’s immovable property to the woman after finding that she carried the financial burden of servicing the family’s mortgages during her husband’s prolonged period of unemployment.
High Court Justice Phillipa Phillips awarded Caecilia Nyamutswa 100 per cent of the couple’s Colne Valley home, 60 per cent of their Vainona property and a 12-acre plot in Shamva. The ruling followed the dissolution of her 24-year marriage to Cosmas Nyamutswa.
Cosmas was awarded the remaining 40 per cent interest in the Vainona property, as well as his Cessna aircraft, two boats, fishing equipment, firearms and royalties from two books he authored.
The judgment departed from an equal 50-50 division of the matrimonial assets, with the court taking into account the couple’s respective financial and non-financial contributions to the marriage.
The court heard that Caecilia, a lawyer who later pursued a career in banking, personally met the mortgage payments on the couple’s two houses while Cosmas was unemployed for about eight years.
Justice Phillips, however, acknowledged Cosmas’s non-financial contributions to the household. He was described as having taken on responsibilities associated with being a house husband, including taking the children to school and providing career advice to his wife.
The judge found that, despite his limited direct financial contribution towards the acquisition and preservation of some of the assets, Cosmas should not be left without a share of the matrimonial estate.
The court also rejected Cosmas’s application for post-divorce medical aid maintenance and declined to order Caecilia to pay university expenses for their three adult children.
The couple, who married at Sacred Heart Cathedral on 7 October 2000, divorced after the court found that their marriage had irretrievably broken down.
The court heard allegations about Cosmas’s anger and what was described as wasteful spending, which formed part of the dispute over the breakdown of the marriage.
More: The Observer
