Rabbinical court rejects ex-husband’s bid to avoid divorce payment over abuse claim

A rabbinical court in Tel Aviv has rejected a divorced father of four’s attempt to avoid paying his ex-wife her ketubah, or divorce settlement, after he claimed she had sexually abused one of their children. In a recent ruling, judges Tzvi Ben Yaakov, Moshe Bazri and Ben Zion HaKohen Rabin said the closure of the criminal case against the woman for lack of evidence undermined the husband’s version, and ordered him to pay her 300,000 shekels.

At the wedding, the husband signed a ketubah worth 555,000 shekels. The couple had been married for 15 years, and there was no dispute that he initiated the separation, which ordinarily creates liability to pay the ketubah. He tried to escape that obligation by arguing that the real cause of the divorce was the mother’s alleged sexual abuse of one of their children, and therefore she, not he, was at fault.

The woman denied the allegation completely, saying her ex-husband had planted the “crazy idea” in their son’s head that she had abused him. She pointed to the police decision to close the case as proof of her innocence and, by extension, his obligation to pay. The judges said the criminal case closure was critical, writing that if the husband’s claim had merit, “the prosecution would not have closed the case for lack of evidence.” They added that he had failed to meet the burden of proof that she had sexually harmed their minor son and thereby forfeited her ketubah as the party who caused the divorce.

The court also relied on a polygraph examination, which found the woman truthful when she denied any sexual contact with her son, including oral sex or any forced sexual act. Another factor against the husband was that the spouses continued having sex despite his claimed grave suspicions, which the judges said weakened his assertion that the abuse had been proven. The court also said the estrangement between the child and his mother did not prove abuse and could instead reflect parental alienation by the father. Still, because the ketubah was described as excessive, the judges capped the award at 300,000 shekels.