Johannesburg - A man who believed that his ex-wife should not have a share of the home they lived in on the grounds that he built it from proceeds of his inheritance has learnt otherwise.
The high court in Polokwane has ruled that an inheritance was not automatically excluded from a joint estate of spouses married in community of property.
This crushed the argument by NR, who cannot be named owing to divorce laws, that the home in Marble Hall, Limpopo, could not be part of the joint estate. His reasons were that he built it from the R450 000 he inherited from the estate of his late brother.
NR’s mother received a lump sum in 2013, after the death of her son, who practised as an optometrist in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal.
She gave NR R450 000 and instructed him to secure a home for himself. He bought land for R85 000 and used the remainder to build a house.
NR said in court papers his mother gave him the money because he was financially struggling despite his municipal job.
He married his lover, GM, later in 2013 under customary law. The marriage was dissolved in February last year, after she filed for divorce.
Owing to them not having an antenuptial contract, the divorce court ruled that “the division of the joint estate shall be divided equally”.
The Star