- The High Court ruled that a divorced husband is responsible for half of a vehicle’s balloon payment under a divorce settlement agreement.
- The judge decided that the obligation stays in place until the finance agreement ends, including the last payment.
- The court gave the go-ahead for a writ of execution after the former husband failed to pay R55 786.65 owed to his ex-wife
A divorced woman successfully approached the High Court in the Western Cape to enforce a divorce settlement agreement after her former husband refused to contribute towards the final balloon payment on a vehicle finance agreement.
The court found that the husband remained liable for half of the final instalment because the agreement required him to continue contributing until the finance agreement expired in full.
The dispute began with a divorce order granted in August 2019, which included a settlement agreement between the former spouses. Under the agreement, the wife kept the motor vehicle and agreed to pay for maintenance costs such as servicing, tyres, and fuel. The husband agreed to pay 50 percent of the monthly instalments, which came to R2 657, until the finance agreement ended.
When the finance agreement reached its final stage in December 2024, a balloon payment of more than R111 000 became due. The wife asked the husband to contribute half of that amount, which was R55 786.65, but he did not pay.
The wife then attempted to obtain a writ of execution from the Registrar of the High Court. The Registrar declined to issue the writ on the basis that the settlement agreement did not expressly provide for the balloon payment being claimed. That refusal led to the application before Acting Judge T Mgengwana.
Dispute over the meaning of the settlement agreement
The husband opposed the application and argued that he had only agreed to contribute towards the ordinary monthly instalments and not the final balloon payment due at the end of the finance agreement. He maintained that the settlement agreement referred specifically to monthly instalments of R2 657 and contained no wording obliging him to pay part of the final instalment.
The wife argued that the wording of the settlement agreement clearly linked the husband’s obligation to the duration of the finance agreement itself. Her legal team argued that the agreement could only expire once every obligation under it, including the final balloon instalment, had been settled.
Judge Mgengwana considered legal principles about how agreements and court orders are interpreted, including the importance of reading the wording in context and with its underlying purpose. The court noted that the finance agreement already existed when the settlement agreement was signed and that both former spouses knew the agreement included a final balloon instalment.
The court found that the finance agreement consisted of 72 instalments. This included 71 ordinary monthly instalments and one final instalment of R111 642.20. Judge Mgengwana found that the wording of the settlement agreement emphasised the length of the payment obligation rather than limiting liability only to the ordinary monthly instalments.
The court said the wording highlighted the phrase until the expiry of the finance agreement rather than focusing on the monthly amounts payable
Judge Mgengwana also found that the respondent is indeed liable for 50 percent of the 72nd instalment, which is the balloon payment that forms part of the finance agreement.
The court rejected the husband’s argument that the balloon payment was separate from the finance agreement and found that the settlement agreement did not exclude the final instalment
Writ of execution granted
The court ordered the Registrar to issue a writ of execution for R55 786.65 together with interest from 28 December 2024 until final payment. The Sheriff of Wynberg North was authorised to attach and sell the former husband’s movable property in execution of the debt.
The former husband was also ordered to pay the costs of the application, including counsel’s fees on Scale B.
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