The Haifa Regional Rabbinical Court decided to dramatically deviate from the law on financial relations between spouses, when it determined that the balance of assets and actuarial rights would not be balanced half by half, but rather that the wife would receive 70% and the husband only 30%.
The story of the case: The Haifa Regional Rabbinical Court was required during a divorce to divide property between spouses according to the law on financial relations.
During the discussions, it emerged that the husband had worked in Nigeria for 15 years and received his salary in dollars, directly into a bank account in Switzerland. He said he had no employment contract but a verbal agreement, and had no social or other rights.
The woman, on the other hand, worked in Israel as a nurse at Rambam Hospital in Haifa, and there is detailed documentation of all her rights to a pension, provident fund, further education funds, etc.
The husband argued before the court that all of his current income was transferred to the family's bank account every month, minus the $1,500 he needed to live in Nigeria. According to the wife's calculations, even if he earns $6,500 per month and needs $1,500 to live, he did not transfer $5,000 to the account, but only $2,000.
The court issued an order ordering the husband to provide within seven days the names of the company managers, accountants, and payroll accountant of the Israeli company that employed him in Nigeria, so that they could be summoned to testify.
The order was not carried out and the husband claimed that he did not have the directors' address.
After lengthy discussions, the members of the Haifa Rabbinical Court - the head of the court, Rabbi Daniel Edri, and the judges, Eyal Yosef and David Bar Shelton, decided: "In light of the above, the court believes that it is not fair to divide all known rights equally. The court has reasonable doubt that the husband has smuggled money and accumulated it, money that was supposed to be included in the balance. This is a regular practice over many years.".
The court relied on Section 8B (2) of the Financial Relations Law, which states: "If the court sees special circumstances that justify it, it may determine that the balance of assets will not be half-and-half, but according to another ratio that it determines.".
Alongside this section, the court cited a long line of references from Torah literature, from the days of the Talmud and the Shulchan Aruch to the judges of our time.
Therefore, the court ruled in its decision: "A. The husband's share of the pension rights will be only 30% and the wife's share will be 70%. B. The husband will pay the wife a total of 153,088 according to the actuary's opinion to balance resources.".
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