Man ordered to pay ex-wife £180,000 for 25 years of unpaid housework

A woman was awarded €204,000 (£182,000) in compensation for all of the unpaid housework she did during 25 years of marriage, in perhaps the most compelling argument in history for doing your bit in the relationship.

In the town of Velez-Malaga, Spain, a court ordered a man to pay the lump sum to his ex-wife as part of their divorce settlement after she'd previously received no money at all.

The judge calculated the amount he'd have to pay based on monthly minimum wage laws for a professional worker over the 25 years they'd been married.

That's not the only money he'll have to pay out either, as judge Laura Ruiz Alaminos ordered the man to pay his ex-wife a monthly pension of €500 (£444).

He'll also be paying a monthly pension to his 20-year-old daughter to the tune of €400 (£356) and his 14-year-old daughter will be paid €600 (£533) a month.

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48-year-old Ivana Moral married her former husband back in 1995 but asked for a divorce in 2020, and since they had signed a separation of goods agreement he kept all of his money in the divorce settlement.

Divorce can be an expensive business but Ivana Moral received half of their house and no money due to the agreement she's signed.

However, her successful lawsuit argued that because she had spent 25 years doing all of the housework as well as working as a cleaner for her husband's gym business she had sacrificed her own ability to earn money.

Moral's lawsuit claimed that she had been 'deprived of any possible career due to her exclusive dedication to the home and family' while her ex-husband 'throughout the years of marriage, accumulated and exponentially increased his assets'.

Essentially, if both people are meant to keep the money they earn in the event of a divorce then surely it's not fair if one person spends the whole marriage doing all the housework?

According to the i, Moral's ex-husband enjoyed financial success with his gym business which allowed him to buy a number of expensive cars including a Porsche Cayenne and a Range Rover 4x4.

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The ex-husband, who was not named in the court ruling, also acquired a 70 hectare olive oil farm which was valued at around €4 million (£3.5m).

The i also reports that he stopped paying for his eldest daughter's education when she turned 16, leading her to start working to fund her studies.

Marta Fuentes, Moral's lawyer, said the ruling 'represents the labour of all the women in the shadows'.

Fuentes described the 48-year-old as her ex-husband's 'shadow' saying she had spent 25 years working behind him 'so he could rise professionally and become someone'.

Moral's ex-husband is expected to appeal against the verdict.