Durban - A wealthy Durban pensioner is refusing to hand over half his estate to the woman he married in community of property six years ago because he claims he had a stroke seven months before the wedding and can remember little about it.
“I was mentally incapable of entering into any agreement nor capable of appreciating the consequences of a marriage in community of property,” the 72-year-old former businessman has claimed in documents filed in the Durban High Court in pre-divorce hearing proceedings.
The couple - who cannot be named - apparently lived together for some years before marrying in 2009, a second marriage for both of them.
Two years later, in 2011, the woman filed for divorce saying she had been physically and emotionally abused and that her husband had evicted her from the marital bedroom.
While she sought an order appointing a liquidator to investigate her husband’s financial affairs in order to split the estate, he opposed this and countered her claim with an application to have their marriage declared “null and void”.
Apart from relying on his contention that he was “not in his sound and sober senses” at the time, he also alleges that the marriage was never consummated. His wife denies both claims.
He also says the court should have regard to the duration of the marriage and the circumstances of its breakdown, alleging she had been the abusive one and should not be “unduly benefited” through taking half of his substantial estate which is said to include 12 properties, a vintage car collection and other investments.
According to documents about the history of the matter, former Judge President Chiman Patel attempted to get the pair to agree on a settlement because of their age and the stress of a trial.
As of last week, this still had not happened and it has been set down for a five-day trial next month.
Last week the matter came before Judge Dhaya Pillay with an application by the wife, now 66, for a costs contribution of R220 000 to cover the trial.
Lawyers acting for the couple said as things stood, she was prepared to accept R5 million, but he was only prepared to offer R1.5m.
Judge Pillay also urged the couple to settle the litigation and avoid trial. She directed that the parties meet to identify every single issue in dispute and report back to her this week.
The husband has submitted reports from a urologist and two clinical psychologists, and the wife has hired her own experts.
Two friends who attended the wedding at the Durban Country Club are also listed as witnesses should the trial go ahead.
An expert report filed with the court says the man “seems to recall he went along with the whole thing but played no active part” in the wedding or organising the ceremony. This was due to his having a “difficult time” after the stroke and not remembering much.
The Mercury