Taking out loan without notifying wife reason for divorce: Court

ANKARA

Turkey’s Court of Cassation has ruled in an unprecedented decision that a man taking out a loan without notifying his wife was grounds for divorce as it was a violation of “trust” between partners.

The court’s ruling came after a married couple in the western province of Balıkesir’s Edremit district mutually filed for divorce with a local court.

The court listened to both sides, during which they blamed each other for the failure of their marriage. The woman’s statement that her husband continuously “insulted” her was not accepted as grounds for divorce, as the court said “hearsay is not admissible as evidence.” However, eventually, the court found the man at fault as he had taken out a loan without notifying his wife.

The Edremit Third Civil Court of First Instance then ruled for the couple’s divorce and ordered the man to pay an allowance as well as non-pecuniary damages to the woman.

The husband appealed the local court’s decision and applied to the Court of Cassation, the court of final appeal for civil and criminal matters.

The Second Civil Chamber of the Higher Court agreed with the local court’s ruling that the man’s action of taking out a loan without notifying his wife “undermined the trust” between partners.

However, since “it could not be proven the defendant [man] had taken action against personal rights of the complainant [woman] in the events which have caused the divorce,” it overruled the previous ruling of the man having to pay the woman non-pecuniary damages.

“In this regard, the demand of the woman for non-pecuniary damages has to be overturned,” the court said further.