In a shocking new case, a hospital consultant has been ordered by the Family Court to give all of his assets to his ex-wife.
The assets, estimated to be worth £550,000 have been given to Enas after her ex-husband Dr Essam Aly flitted to Bahrain, leaving her to raise their two children without financial support since 2012.
The couple were married for nine years, sharing two children before they divorced in 2011. Enas claimed that Dr Aly had abdicated his responsibilities to his children once he had left Britain, being a ‘serial defaulter’ in his child support payments.
The judge who heard the case said that Enas had no expectation of him ever making future payments of child maintenance, therefore needed a substantial sum to cover the future cost of raising their two children alone.
Dr Aly who has since remarried and had another child, claimed that he was planning to move back to Britain with his new family. In an appeal for his case, Dr Aly’s barrister claimed that there was ‘substantive unfairness’ in awarding Enas all the couple’s assets as Dr Aly had shown willingness to pay £40 a week per child, and his needs had been injudiciously brushed over.
Despite Dr Aly’s counter, the judge was forced to make the proper provisions for the sake Enas’ children. Dr Aly was considered to be less than willing or reliable for future payments, therefore the judge calculated all the future payments for the two children and awarded it to Enas as lump sum so that she could respectively use it in their raising.
The moral of the story? If you are in the process of divorce, organise a financial agreement that suits the needs of you and your spouse. The Enas-Aly case is a warning for anyone who looks like a risk of defaulting on payments, as they may now be expected to pay substantial amount up-front.
