{"id":98764,"date":"2024-09-19T10:58:29","date_gmt":"2024-09-19T08:58:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/cheating-no-ground-for-refusal-to-share-property-high-court"},"modified":"2024-09-19T13:44:08","modified_gmt":"2024-09-19T11:44:08","slug":"cheating-no-ground-for-refusal-to-share-property-high-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/cheating-no-ground-for-refusal-to-share-property-high-court","title":{"rendered":"Cheating no ground for refusal to share property: High Court"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. <\/strong><\/span>A HIGH Court judge has dismissed an application in which a Harare man is refusing to equally share property and a mansion in Borrowdale, Harare, with his ex-wife on claims that she was involved in an adulterous affair.<\/p>\n

The couple, Monica Chigariro and her ex-husband Ashford Potera, were in an unregistered customary union from 1999 before they divorced in September 2022.<\/p>\n

Potera also challenged the equal sharing of their property saying he was the one formally employed.<\/p>\n

High Court judge Justice Amy Tsanga, however, ruled in Chigariro\u2019s favour.<\/p>\n

Justice Tsanga said Potera should have, instead, filed a separate claim for damages against his ex-wife for adultery.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefendant (Potera) mentioned a cellphone that was purportedly given to a boyfriend long after the property was built,\u201d the judge ruled.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is true that the affair may have sounded the death knell to their customary union, but there is no evidence that it had an impact on the property acquired together. Moreover, the property is registered in both names.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere property is registered in both names, its distribution is generally equal between the owners unless there are compelling reasons for deviation from equal sharing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The judge added: \u201cTo centre adulterous conduct in property sharing should only be \u2018just\u2019 where the evidence is clear that it impacted on their marital assets and diminished their marital estate in some way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe adultery may very well have no relevance to the proprietary issues and can often be the result of an already broken marriage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Justice Tsanga said Chigariro also contributed to the acquisition of the property in dispute indirectly by embarking on cross-border trips to acquire goods for resale.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was in addition to running the home and looking after the family. Moreover, the property is registered in both their names, indicating that they both owned it,\u201d the judge said.<\/p>\n

\u201cApart from being a registered half owner, her needs are also pressing as she is the one looking after the minor child as well as the one who is a major, but is still going to school.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is absolutely no doubt that as a result of their union ending, there has been a major economic and impoverishing shift in Chigariro\u2019s life that she and her children were used to.\u201d<\/p>\n

The judge further ruled that the union lasted for 23 years saying the duration of marriage is often a central factor in awarding a 50% share in lengthy marriages.<\/p>\n

Justice Tsanga ordered that the property be shared equally, of which 50% should be availed within six months.<\/p>\n

Potera was also ordered to pay US$400 in outstanding maintenance support for his minor child and US$50 monthly maintenance until the child reaches 18 years.<\/p>\n

In her summons, Chigariro pleaded for equal sharing of their property on the basis that they had set up a family together, had children and acquired both movable and immovable assets during the course of their marriage.<\/p>\n

Potera was adamant that her contribution was minimal on the basis that she was never in formal employment, whereas he was.<\/p>\n

Potera\u2019s initial offer was 10% and later 15%.<\/p>\n

He also raised the issue of Chigariro\u2019s alleged adulterous relationships, emphasising that the breakdown of their marriage was a result of infidelity.<\/p>\n

He said they had parted ways because of continued infidelity.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zimbabwe Follow Africa-Press<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. A HIGH Court judge has dismissed an application in which a Harare man is refusing to equally share property and a mansion in Borrowdale, Harare, with his ex-wife on claims that she was involved in an adulterous affair. The couple, Monica Chigariro and her ex-husband Ashford Potera, were in an unregistered customary […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":98763,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[19],"class_list":{"0":"post-98764","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-policy","9":"tag-zimbabwe"},"yoast_head":"\nCheating no ground for refusal to share property: High Court - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A HIGH Court judge has dismissed an application in which a Harare man is refusing to equally share property and a mansio ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/cheating-no-ground-for-refusal-to-share-property-high-court\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cheating no ground for refusal to share property: High Court\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A HIGH Court judge has dismissed an application in which a Harare man is refusing to equally share property and a mansio ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/cheating-no-ground-for-refusal-to-share-property-high-court\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-09-19T08:58:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-09-19T11:44:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2024\/09\/sm_1726733631.522243.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"485\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/cheating-no-ground-for-refusal-to-share-property-high-court\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/cheating-no-ground-for-refusal-to-share-property-high-court\",\"name\":\"Cheating no ground for refusal to share property: High Court - 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