Three divorces and two judicial separations took less than 25 minutes to complete at the Dublin Circuit Family Court yesterday.
The orders were made by Judge Martin Nolan. In most cases, both parties were present and without legal representation.
In one divorce, the court heard a woman from Ireland and a man from Asia were married in September 2005 and separated in 2006. They had no children and no property in common that would require division. He said he worked in a takeaway and she is also in employment. The woman also told the judge they had no pensions to consider.
Judge Nolan asked them whether there was any possibility of reconciliation. The woman responded with a firm “no” and the judge declared them divorced.
In a second divorce case, a woman attended alone. She had been separated from her husband for more than seven years and they had three children. “How does he know the case is on?” Judge Nolan asked her. The woman showed documents confirming she had served the papers on her husband by registered post. “He doesn’t want to come,” she said.
In the witness box, she attested to the date of their marriage and told the judge her husband was a full-time carer for a relative, while she was working full-time. They had joint custody of their children.
The judge recited the relevant section of the Family Law (Divorce) Act 1996 under which a decree of divorce is granted.
“Am I divorced now?” the woman asked. “You are, yes,” the judge responded.
Another couple, who had no children and jointly owned an apartment, had worked out the terms of their judicial separation after 10 years of marriage.
The woman was to live in the apartment and the man was to pay half of the mortgage, property tax and management fees until the property was out of negative equity when it could be sold. One of the bedrooms would be rented out in the meantime and the proceeds would go toward the man’s mortgage contribution.
Not all of the cases before Judge Nolan were amicable.
In one, a woman sought to have her ex-husband jailed for failure to pay her solicitor’s bill and maintenance arrears.
She had been awarded her costs of €10,000 at a divorce hearing in January, the court was told, and maintenance arrears were also owed at that stage of €1,400. The judge in January made an order that future maintenance, of €135 a week, would come directly from the man’s wages. But the figure would be conditional on him getting €350 a week for himself first, known as a protected earnings order.
Judge Nolan remarked it was unusual for a judge to award costs in such cases and there must have been a reason for it.
Counsel for the man provided payslips to show he had a low income and did not always make enough money to pay maintenance. She also said he had borrowed €1,400 and had that cash in court to give to his ex-wife.
The woman was unrepresented and tearful as she told the judge of the “immense pressure” she was coming under from her solicitor to pay the €10,000 costs bill.
