A husband urgently turned to court to obtain a shotgun divorce order, as he has now moved to Dubai and has found a new love.
However, the lover cannot join him in Dubai before they are married, as they may not live together in that country without being legally married.
The husband turned to the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, asking for an urgent divorce order. This, while the couple are at loggerheads about the division of their joint estate and maintenance towards their child.
But the husband said these issues can be ironed out after the divorce has been granted, as for now, he urgently needs the ring on his wife-to-be’s finger.
However, for now, he will have to wait before saying “I do” as the court turned down his application. The parties are involved in divorce proceedings, and the disputes in the divorce proceedings include unbundling the parties’ financial affairs, which the court said should first be done before a divorce order is granted.
The husband, in his application to separate these issues, said he has met a new partner and fathered a one-year-old child with his new love. He has moved to Dubai and wishes for his new partner and the child to join him and live as a family there.
However, whilst he remains married to the respondent, it is difficult to obtain visas for his partner and the child. The laws of Dubai do not permit that type of cohabitation while he is still legally married to the respondent.
In giving the reasons for refusing his application, Acting Judge I de Vos said the applicant moved to Dubai in February this year and regards Dubai as his permanent residence.
He has no intention of returning to South Africa in the foreseeable future and intends to apply for permanent residency and citizenship at the first available opportunity.
His immigration has consequences for the unresolved divorce proceedings as it affects the court’s territorial jurisdiction over him. The proceedings will involve a maintenance order for the divorcing couple’s child as well as other maintenance issues.
All these will have to be determined through court proceedings. Once determined, the court orders will have to be implemented, and if not complied with, will have to be enforced by the sheriff through attachment and execution, the judge said.
She added that as the applicant is no longer within the court’s jurisdiction, his attendance at court proceedings is cumbersome. If he did not attend court (in South Africa) or comply with court orders, the wife he is divorcing from has only lengthy and costly options available to her to finalise the divorce proceedings.
Judge de Vos said once the husband got what he wanted - an urgent divorce - there would be no motivation for him to attend court proceedings to finalise the remainder of the issues in dispute.
The husband argued that he needs the divorce order to build a relationship with his new partner and their child, and if it is not granted, he feared that this relationship might suffer as a result. But the judge said a shotgun divorce could prejudice his current wife and child, and their interests also had to be taken into consideration.
Thus, before starting his new life with his new family abroad, the husband will first have to finalise all aspects of his divorce in South Africa.
Pretoria News
zelda.venter@inl.co.za