No 50/50 share for divorcee’s, Supreme Court Rules.
Men have won on matrimonial property sharing in a ruling that was issued by the Supreme Court on 27th January.
The precedence was set in a case that had been filed to the Apex Court by a Nairobian who wanted the Supreme Court to reverse Appellate Court ruling on how they should share his properties with his divorced wife.
In 2018, the Court of Appeal ruled that he should share his properties with his former wife on 50 to 50 ratios.
The man argued that his former wife contributed nothing to the establishment of the properties and therefore she was not entitled to 50:50 share of his properties.
The five bench Supreme Court judges led by Chief Justice Martha Koome ruled that divorced spouses can only claim a share of properties they brought into the marriage.
The ruling also stated that divorced spouses will have to prove their contribution to the acquisition of the properties for them to be accorded a share.
They also added that the ruling will set precedence for any other property sharing case involving divorced partners in the country.
“What amounts to a fair and equitable legal formula for the reallocation of matrimonial property rights at the dissolution of a marriage and whether the same can be achieved by a fixed means of apportionment at a 50:50 ratio should be done in light of the circumstances of each individual case,” the Supreme Court Ruling read in parts.
Federation of Women Lawyers and Law Society of Kenya were enjoined as interested parties in this case.
