Broken Promises
Wife wins in court’s property shock
The above article supplies more evidence that the politicians are incapable of passing laws that promise to…. “PROVIDE CLARITY AND CERTAINTY”… as suggested by Margaret Wilson MP when she passed the 2002 ammendment to the Property Relationship Act 1976
Contracts and agreements without the protection of well written law have no value at all and only encourage couples to enter into a ‘no win’ court fight. It cannot be said that court action costs the country money as all costs are within our own economy, however the social costs are astronomical.
Can you think why this may not be of importance to the law makers??? Might they perhaps consider it’s OK to have couples deal with incompetent law so long as money comes their way????
PS The NZ Herald article is not well written as it leaves the reader incorrectly thinking that marriage is the key element of the story rather than living in a sexual relationship with ‘a partner’ (either gender) for more than 3 yrs. The rule journalists follow in a story is the 5 W’s; Who, Why, What, Where and When. The ‘why’ is the BIG one here and it is not marriage. Also under ‘What’ there is no mention of the legal costs to the parties. This can be equal or even more than the amount in dispute so to omit this information is not giving the full story. I notice that Lawyer Andrew Watkins states that “It’s sending a signal to husbands, or people who have separate assets, to sign an agreement first.” These agreements “contracting out” are a mine field and produce nothing but heartache and an empty wallet. One would think that journalists would understand the subject they are writing about but perhaps like most of us they just cannot understand the shit hole that this PRA is!!! Needless to say I no longer live in NZ
A country ends up with the laws it deserves…..!!
I wonder if his inherited assets had depreciated in value whether the wife would be scrambling to pay her share of that depreciated value or whether a Judge would even consider such a claim?
If inherited or gifted assets depreciate in value during any relationship then surely both parties are also responsible for that loss too. It might be time to call the accountant 🙂
Comment by SicKofNZ — Mon 20th July 2009 @ 11:43 am
I’m worried about the lawn-mower man now. Thanks to him I can get on with much higher value jobs, but when he eventually goes, I suppose he can go to the Supreme Court and get some share of my property.
Comment by rc — Mon 20th July 2009 @ 11:58 am
so the female gender want free priviledges when married and NZ forces the male gender to acquiesce… hmmm
who comes up with this stuff??.. did they ever have an education??…
Are they real??…
Comment by karan jiahrr — Mon 20th July 2009 @ 3:54 pm
“Barrister Anthony Grant has described the case as involving “the annihilation by stealth of separate property”. He says the case is “shocking” and “a stunner”,… ”
From the little that we know about this case it would seem to me that a pre-nup agreement would not protect you from this case. Even a trust would probably not protect it from this decision.
The only thing that would protect you would be to raise the children yourself.
Comment by Dave — Mon 20th July 2009 @ 4:59 pm
The only thing that would protect you would be to raise the children yourself
Not for a property settlement as she would still be “legally entitled.”
Regards
Scrap
Comment by Scrap_The_CSA — Mon 20th July 2009 @ 5:54 pm
WAKE UP NZ!!!!!!!!!!!! WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Comment by Scott B — Mon 20th July 2009 @ 6:01 pm
Scott B.
I think you mean ‘LEAVE THE SINKING SHIP MEN, LEAVE !’
Which is probably the best advice to men in NZ right now.
Comment by John (Doe ;) — Mon 20th July 2009 @ 9:00 pm
No… I mean wake up! I don’t know about any of you guys but 99% of people both men and women I talk to about this stuff don’t believe it’s happening!
Comment by Scott B — Mon 20th July 2009 @ 9:55 pm
Yes Scott B, I agree, it’s weird how few people acknowledge it. A lot of men have had personal thoughts and recognize it when it’s pointed out but few have been brave enough to say anything openly. But more and more people are starting to speak up. I wrote a song several years ago called “Wake Up” (wake up wake up can’t you see what’s happening…). It’s hardly poetry, but men tend to express agreement with its sentiments while women generally either ignore it pointedly or hate it. Despite the cynicism of long campaigners, I feel consciousness is starting to build and our time is nigh.
Comment by Hans Laven — Tue 21st July 2009 @ 12:04 am
reverting this judgement will take time and money.. cahnes of this happening.. pretty close to nil… NZ likes to maintain status quo once set.. nd it has just been set.
Comment by karanjiharr — Tue 21st July 2009 @ 7:23 pm
what are the lyrics?
Comment by Scott B — Tue 21st July 2009 @ 8:13 pm
Pete Seeger and others wrote and performed songs that drew attention to the social ills of his era. Here are the lyrics to my modern protest song. Hey, it’s not frilly or metaphorical, but I still like some of the lines:
V1
Listen up, you won’t believe your ears
But you’ll know the truth of what you’ve heard
Look around, who are the victims here?
But perpetrator is the only word
Who is dying on the job in mumbers
On the building site, the fishing boat and in the mine?
Who is being kicked out of the family?
Better watch it he’ll be doing time.
Chorus: Wake up wake up can’t you see what’s happening
Look out look out it’s a call to arms
Don’t imagine that it’s only men who’ll suffer
Everybody’s going down down down
V2
Check it out, when a man makes an error
He’ll lose his children and the kids lose out
But wait a minute, when a woman makes an error
She’ll get the help she needs to sort things out
Children everywhere without their fathers
Schooling by the women for the girls
Build more prisons for the masculine gender
That should really help us get along
Chorus
V3
Being male is seen as evil, condescension rules
Everything they do must be approved
Women’s only groups are thriving, waging war on men
Clubs for men these days are disallowed
Yes it’s fair enough to gain equality
Pendulum has swung the other way
Men’s existence now a form of slavery
Keep the women in the style they’ve grown accustomed to
Chorus
Comment by Hans Laven — Wed 22nd July 2009 @ 12:33 am
Well, this adds yet another reason for my theory that the best place to be in todays socety is to have ….. nothing. If you have any sort of possession, then there is a battalion of lawyers just ready and willing to help ANYBODY take it from you. 50% of feck all is … feck all. Its the only way to be. Better still, do what a lot of property developers have done, rack up huge debt and abstain all responsibility when things get tough and let the bank take the rap. Ooops I meant the tax payer, when the goverment bail out the banks. Cyncial ? Yeah, you kind of get that way when everyone tries to finacially r@pe you.
Comment by Blocky — Wed 22nd July 2009 @ 1:33 am
i agree with those lyrics, well done. 🙂
Comment by Scott B — Thu 23rd July 2009 @ 4:29 pm