Gambling Addiction Leads to Husband's Full Ketubah Payment

A Jerusalem rabbinical court has ordered a man to pay his ex-wife the full 170,662 shekel (approximately $46,000 USD) ketubah (marriage contract) sum, ruling that his severe gambling addiction was the primary cause of their divorce. The court found the husband responsible for the marital breakdown due to his addiction, which led to significant financial ruin for the family, including borrowing from the "grey market" (informal, often high-interest lenders) and stealing from his employer.

The couple married in 2005 and had three children. The husband left the family home in 2016, and by early 2017, divorce was imminent. The wife had previously won a monthly alimony and housing payment of 7,600 shekels, and the husband later filed for divorce himself in 2018. The divorce was finalized by agreement, with the ketubah amount to be decided later, considering property division rulings.

During the property division, which concluded in November 2020, the husband was ordered to pay his wife an additional 100,000 shekels. The wife alleged that her husband's gambling addiction created debts of around 600,000 shekels, leading him to steal from his job and borrow from the grey market. Despite starting a rehabilitation program in 2014, he continued his destructive behavior.

To resolve conflicting claims, both parties agreed to a polygraph test. The results were decisive, indicating the wife did not deny intimacy, any alleged violence on her part was self-defense, and the husband's gambling was a factor in the divorce. The court dismissed the husband's claims of marital violence and denial of intimacy by the wife.

Based on the polygraph and rabbinical sources, the court determined the husband's actions constituted grounds for divorce and forfeiture of the ketubah. While the wife initially sought 250,000 shekels, the court allowed deductions of 26,000 shekels for pension rights and approximately 53,338 shekels for accrued alimony with interest. However, the 100,000 shekels from the property division was not deducted, as it was deemed a debt owed by halakha (Jewish law), not just under property law. The final sum ordered is 170,662 shekels.