Court Orders Divorced Kenyan Couple to Share Multi-Million-Shilling Property in the UK

A court has directed a divorced Kenyan couple to share a multi-million-shilling property in the United Kingdom.

This is after Justice Mugure Thande of Mombasa law courts declared the flat located in the affluent Bristol city a matrimonial property.

The two acquired the said property at the beginning of their marriage in the 1990s before their union collapsed, leading to divorce years later, The Standard reported on Sunday.

Following a court battle that lasted for over 10 years, Justice Thande in May ruled that the man, identified in court as TJF, holds a 60 percent stake in the UK property while his former wife, identified as AWF, owns 40 percent. The two will use the same formula to share a restaurant situated in Mtwapa, Mombasa.

The judge said she arrived at the formula based on the contributions each party made during their marriage. AWF had petitioned the court to award her a 50 percent share of the properties.

“Joint ownership of matrimonial property by spouses and acquisition of the same during the subsistence of their marriage does not mean that ownership vests in them in equal shares. Ownership of matrimonial property by each spouse is proportionate to the contribution made to the acquisition of the same,” Justice Thande ruled.

The judge ruled that a matrimonial property constitutes the matrimonial home or household goods in the matrimonial home or homes of spouses or any other property acquired during the existence of the marriage and jointly owned by spouses.

TJF and AWF met in the UK after the man separated from his first wife. They got in Bristol in 1993, where the woman worked as a nurse.