A COURT has denied a divorcée’s appeal for her cash-strapped former husband to pay their daughter’s private school fees … because he is BD31,000 in debt.
The Sharia Court ruled that it could not compel the 58-year-old Bahraini father to pay the tuition costs because his monthly debt instalment of BD527 exceeds his monthly salary of BD464.
Lawyer Aisha Abdullatif, who represented the ex-husband, said her client could not afford the private school costs and repeatedly failed to make payments despite having been ordered by the court to.
In 2020, after a lawsuit raised by the plaintiff (ex-wife), the Sharia court had ruled that the defendant should pay the fees of the school in Busaiteen.
He appealed the ruling and asked that his 14-year-old daughter be transferred to a public school, but the appeals court upheld the verdict issued in the 43-year-old ex-wife’s favour.
The man attempted to protest again in 2021 but the court said it had already issued a ruling in the case. However, this changed a year later when his former wife transferred the teenager to another private school in Um Al Hassam.
The mother told the court their child needed to change school because the previous one did not offer classes beyond eighth grade. She raised a suit against the father last year to continue covering the cost of tuition at the new school from ninth grade onwards.
In December, Lower Sharia Court judges ruled to reject her demands because circumstances have changed and because the defence lawyer successfully proved that the father could not afford the fees.
Judges referenced an Egyptian precedent in verdict documents, which states that ‘child support rulings can be altered or dropped if there is a change in conditions, and can be appealed as such’.
Documents also said that in Islamic law ‘a father can only spend on the child an amount he can afford in relation to his income’.
Social workers tried and failed to work with the parents, who also have a 21-year-old son, to reach a compromise over the girl’s school fees.
The mother took to the Higher Sharia Court to appeal against the decision but her request was rejected.
The court said that a father has the right to choose his child’s schooling, and since he did not agree to the daughter’s transfer to the new school, he could not be compelled to pay the tuition fee.
Her case went to Bahrain’s highest court to appeal the verdict a final time but Cassation Court judges upheld the ruling. She was ordered to pay court costs and the defendant’s legal bill.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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