A separated father has told a judge he will have nowhere to live with his two teenage children if a court order requiring them to vacate the family home is granted.
The father, who had no legal representation at the Dublin Circuit Family Court on Thursday, claimed his estranged wife "just wanted revenge" because their children had chosen to live with him.
“We’ll have nowhere to live; rent is too expensive,” he said.
He also alleged his wife had been violent, had stabbed him twice and “sent our son to the hospital”.
Though he was working now, he said he had been a stay-at-home father, while his wife had “partied” and had an affair.
He also alleged she had a history of substance and alcohol abuse. On one occasion the children had to lock themselves in the kitchen and call gardaí, he said.
He told Judge Sarah Berkeley he was badly advised by his solicitor when he consented to the sale of the family home in 2014. At the time, he was distressed and worried and "just agreed". He said the stress of leaving home was destroying his children.
Judicial separation
The mother’s solicitor said the marriage had broken down in 2010 and as part of a judicial separation, the father had agreed to the sale of the family home, but had since refused to sign any documents and sales had fallen through.
In January, transfer documents for the most current sale had to be executed by the County Registrar , on foot of a court order, he said. But the sale had not been completed because the father refused to leave the home.
The solicitor said the mother was now seeking an order requiring the father to vacate.
He told the judge the family home could not be sustained because it had been remortgaged to purchase three properties abroad, and these had since been sold at a loss.
He said the father had failed to pay the mortgage and there were now arrears of almost €33,000, which the father denied. He also said the father had been “domineering” throughout the couple’s married life.
“My client doesn’t see her two teenage children at all,” he said.
The judge noted the father had not appealed the court orders or applied to have them set aside. She said her hands were tied, but she would adjourn the case for two weeks to allow the father to get legal advice.
In a separate case, the judge granted dissolution of a civil partnership. The court heard the couple underwent the partnership in 2011, within months of the introduction of legal partnership for same-sex couples.
Only one of the parties attended court. He told the judge he had lived in Dublin with his partner for two years, until they became unhappy living together and broke up. His partner had since moved abroad and they had met only once since the split.
“He has no desire to communicate with me whatsoever,” he said. Asked if there was any possibility of reconciliation, he said “absolutely not”. His ex-partner had agreed to the dissolution via email, the court heard.
‘Remarried in Africa’
And in another case, a woman seeking divorce told the judge her husband had already remarried in Africa.
She told the court her two children were with her mother in their home country and her husband was helping to take care of them. He had also “got a girl pregnant and moved her into the house”.
In her country, she explained, her husband had only to “pay something down” and then he was married. The judge noted her husband had filed an affidavit of means and was earning the equivalent of €30 a month.
“You accept he has absolutely nothing else?” she asked the mother, who had not seen her children since 2010.
The woman said she did. Asked whether either of them had a pension, the woman said “what’s a pension?”
The divorce was granted.
