Man ordered to pay $72,000 compensation to ex-wife for housework she did during their 30-year marriage

Portugal authorities ordered a man to give $72,000 to his ex-wife as compensation for all the housework she did during their marriage. 

• A man was ordered to pay $72,000 as compensation for the housework his ex-wife did during their 30-year-long marriage.
• Originally, the woman demanded $290,000, but after several trials, the sum was reduced. 
• As the woman was doing all the domestic chores, the man benefited from that without helping her, so the Supreme Court ruled in her favor.

The Portuguese Supreme Court ruled that a man should pay the whopping €60,000($72,000) to his ex-wife. As per Oddity Central, the money serves as compensation for all the domestic activities the woman performed during their 30-year-long marriage.

Initially, the ex-wife asked for at least €240,000($$290,000). However, her demand was dismissed by another court the ex-spouses fought in. The Barcelos authorities ruled that she was not entitled to any kind of financial compensation for the decades of hard work she invested in her marriage. At the time, the local judge stated:

“As the work spent in the home is not legally required under the de facto union, its provision as a contribution to the common economy is configured as a spontaneous fulfillment of a natural obligation.”

The ex-spouses fought in several courts across Portugal.

After her claimed was dismissed by the Barcelos judge, the woman filed an appeal with the Court of Appeals. This time, her demands were met with understanding. The officials ordered her ex to pay her €60,000($72,000).

However, the man was determined to continue fighting and challenged the decision at the country’s Supreme Court of Justice. To his unpleasant surprise, they agreed with their colleagues and commanded the man to provide the compensation for all the housework his ex-wife did while they were married.

The ruling stated:

“The demand for equality has long been inherent to the idea of ​​justice, so it is not possible to consider that all or much of the housework in a house, of the members of the de facto union, corresponds to the fulfillment of a natural obligation, founded on a duty of justice. 

On the contrary, such a duty calls for a division of tasks as equal as possible, without prejudice to the possibility that the members of that relationship freely agree that one of them does not contribute to the provision of domestic work, in the logic of specializing the contributions of each one.”

The Supreme Court argued that since the man benefited from his ex-wife’s work, but did not participate, he was bound to compensate her.

It was proven that the woman was the only one who took care of all the domestic activities during their 30-year-long marriage. While she was doing everything in the house, including cleaning, cooking, washing dishes, doing the laundry, and so much more, the man was only taking advantage of her efforts. According to the court, this significantly contributed to his enrichment, as he took no part in the housework, not even in paying for the supplies and tools needed.

To determine the financial value of the compensation, the authorities used the national minimum wage as a norm and multiplied it by 12 months, for the 30 years of marriage. A third of the sum was subtracted as the woman’s expenses during that period.