Man ordered to pay wife’s medical aid or face arrest

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Pretoria - A Pretoria man who took his estranged wife off his medical aid has been ordered by the High Court to reinstate her membership. Failure to do so could see him get arrested for contempt of court. The pair have been involved in acrimonious divorce proceedings since 2015, and the woman, who suffers from a chronic condition, sought legal advice when he took her off the medical aid again. Acting Judge Elmarie van der Schyff found the man to be in contempt of an interim order of December 2018 and gave him until next week to sort it out, and put her back on his medical aid. “The respondent is committed to imprisonment for a period of 30 days, which is wholly suspended for a period of 12 months, on condition that the respondent adds the applicant as a beneficiary on his medical aid fund within 15 days of this order,” Acting Judge Van der Schyff ruled.

The woman, who suffered a heart attack seven years ago and could not afford chronic medication herself, instituted divorce proceedings in 2015.

In September of that year, the parties agreed that she would remain on the husband's medical aid for six months after their divorce.

But the matter dragged on and in September 2016 he removed her from his medical aid, reinstating her following a court order.

After she was removed a second time late last year, Judge Cassim Sardiwalla again directed the man to comply with the 2015 order.

The man's last attempt to stop paying for the woman's medical aid earned him the contempt (of court) judgment. The man's argument that he could no longer afford to pay his estranged wife's premiums was dismissed and Acting Judge Van Der Schyff reminded him that he still had obligations towards the woman who was, legally his wife.

The court found that the man, after pleading a “dire financial situation” and after terminating the estranged wife's membership of the medical aid, had meanwhile listed another woman on the medical aid as a beneficiary.

Pretoria News