UAE man hasn't spent a penny on family for 14 years despite high income

A husband in Sharjah has stopped spending on his wife and five children for nearly 14 years, prompting the woman to resort to authorities after she was saddled with debt, a newspaper reported on Thursday.

After waiting all those years because of  love for her husband, the wife decided to seek help from the Sharjah Department of Social Services (DSS).

“We found that the husband has not spent on his family for nearly 14 years although his monthly income is good and they still have normal marital relationship,” the Arabic language daily Emarat Al Youm said, quoting Fatima Al Shehi, a DSS social expert.

She said investigation showed that the wife has been supporting her five children without her husband’s help and that she had borrowed from the bank and relatives to buy a car and expand her house.

“This has led to accumulation of debt on her… the wife said she had not reported her husband because she loves him and does not want to expose him as this could ruin their marital life and she could lose him,” she said.

“She had thought that the concessions she had made would make her and her husband happy… but she discovered that she was wrong as this has resulted in a big debt… she came to us after her husband refused to help her.”

Shehi said that DSS took the husband to court, which ordered him to pay his family a fixed monthly sum.