Judge orders man to pay his ex-wife £180,000 over unpaid housework

A man has been ordered to pay his ex-wife £180,000 (AUD $322,957) for 25 years of unpaid domestic housework.

Well, what a way to ring in International Women’s Day.

Judge Laura Ruiz Alaminos instructed Ivana Moral’s husband to pay her the hefty amount in a divorce settlement, as per the Mirror.

The amount was based on the minimum wage of work conducted during their marriage.

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The judge found that Ivana, who shares two children with her ex-partner, had been responsible for all the domestic chores.

According to the divorce ruling obtained by the Mirror, Ivana spent ‘essentially working in the home, which meant looking after the home and the family'.

The South China Morning Post also reported that their marriage was governed by a separation of property regime, meaning that whatever each party earned was theirs only.

As a result, Ivana was left with no access to the money the couple had acquired through the years.

While speaking to Cadena Ser radio, the woman said her husband didn't ‘want her to work’ outside the home.

However, he let her work at the gyms he owned, where she handled ‘public relations and acted as a monitor’.

Oleg Elkov / Alamy Stock Photo

"I have dedicated myself exclusively to housework, looking after my husband and the house," she said.

She added: "He made me take on the specific role of doing domestic chores, to the extent that I was in a place where I couldn't really do much else."

The court in Velez-Malaga in southern Spain heard the ex-husband must pay the woman a monthly childcare fee for their daughters, one of whom is a minor, while the other is over 18.

According to Cadena Ser radio station, the woman is ‘very happy’ with the sentence as it was ‘very well deserved’.

The precedent of partners paying their ex-spouses for domestic work was first seen in the landmark case of a Beijing divorce.

Ms. Wang received 50,000 yuan (£5,460 or AUD $9,803) for five years of unpaid labour she was considered to have done for her now ex-husband, Mr. Chen.

The ruling came after China introduced a new civil code, whereby a spouse is entitled to seek compensation in a divorce if they bear more responsibility in child raising, caring for elderly relatives, and assisting partners in their work.