On Tuesday, March 7, in a court in Andalusia, Spain, a judge ruled that upon their divorce, a husband was required to pay his ex-wife 200,000 Euros (the equivalent of about $218,000) “back pay” for the 25 years of unpaid domestic labor she had performed throughout their marriage, calculated at the minimum wage to be about $525/month.
The court issued the ruling that stated the husband must pay the woman, Ivana Moral, because she essentially worked in the home, having taken care of the household and the family for the duration of their marriage.
The couple had two daughters, and due to a separation of property regime, the wife would be prevented from having any claim to the couple’s wealth because she was not the wage earner.
The judge recognized that at the termination of the marriage, the wife would be left with nothing, even though she had dedicated 25 years of her life raising the children and providing a home for the family.
The legal documents released by the court broke down the woman’s annual earnings from June 1995 to December 2020.
In addition, because the children were still living in the home with their mother, the ex-husband was ordered to pay alimony and child support.
Ivana Moral said that her husband preferred that she not take a job outside the home, although she was often asked to work part-time in his gym business.
She told the judge that throughout her marriage she was unable to pursue any vocational training outside of her husband’s business, and was prevented from pursuing her own interests, because her main role was housewife and mother. She said that between the work in her husband’s gym, and her household chores and responsibilities raising her daughters, she had no training that would prepare her for supporting herself after the termination of the marriage.
The woman was very happy with the judge’s ruling. There was no comment reported from her husband.
