House given to man who left wife

The High Court has ruled that a man who left his late wife after 10 years of marriage and who subsequently did not contest divorce proceedings initiated by her against him in England, is entitled to ownership of a house in Dundrum, Dublin.

The house was built on a site given by the wife's parents and the couple had lived there for four years when the husband left.

However, while granting ownership of that house - 5A Farrenboley Park, Dundrum - to Mr David Coffey, with an address in Middlesex, England, Mr Justice Thomas Smyth also ruled that justice required that another house at 5 Farrenboley Park, Dundrum, which forms part of the estate of Mr Coffey's former and late wife - Anne Courtney - should pass to 36 cousins of Ms Courtney. That latter house had belonged to Ms Courtney's parents.

The 36 cousins had disputed Mr Coffey's entitlement to any part of Ms Courtney's estate on several grounds, including alleged desertion by him. They claimed he had made virtually no contact with his former wife for the last 25 years of her life.

They also alleged Mr Coffey had interfered with the house at 5A, changed the locks and sought to assert his ownership. Mr Justice Smyth yesterday found that, while Mr Coffey had left his wife on a day in November 1977, some two hours after telling her he believed they were "temperamentally unsuited", he had not deserted her.

Ms Courtney died intestate on October 25th, 2002. She married Mr Coffey, who she had grown up with, in March 1967. The couple had no children. They lived initially at Meadow Grove, Ballinteer, Dublin, and later were given a site by Ms Courtney's father at Farrenboley Park in the grounds of Ms Courtney's parents home. They built a house on that site, 5A Farrenboley Park.

When Mr Coffey left the marriage, there were four years paid off a 25-year mortgage and Ms Courtney then took on to meet the repayments, the court heard. She was devastated by her husband's leaving and had financial worries, the court was told by one of her first cousins. She had worked in the Civil Service but had to give up work on marriage. She later returned to the Civil Service after her husband left.

Ms Courtney did not remarry. She obtained a final decree of divorce against her husband in April 2001 in England. He remarried in 1981 and has two children by that second marriage. In evidence yesterday, he said he had paid the £167 (€244) costs of that divorce.

The judge said this was an unfortunate case. People got married with the best intentions and full of idealism. In this case, the couple were both aged 24 when they married and, some 10 years later, it appeared to Mr Coffey they were incompatible and he did not wish the marriage to continue. This happened in marriages, in some cases, a break-up could be preceded by years of bickering, in others, people wished to avoid scenes.