RAVI’S STORY

I returned home from overseas only to find that my remote didn’t open the gate and I had to hoot several times for the gardener or the maid to let me onto the premises. The gardener arrived and let me in through a side gate so I had to leave my car outside. My keys didn’t open any of the outside doors to the house and suddenly both staff members were no-where to be seen.

Whilst driving away from the house I received a phone call from my wife who told me she’d locked me out of my own residence and that I had to find alternative accommodation. That night I slept in the spare room of a friend’s apartment and the next day I instructed an agent to find me an apartment of my own.

There were more surprises in store for me. During my month’s absence overseas on business, my wife had taken my car and gotten involved in an expensive little fender bender. The accounts started arriving in my inbox at work. Further, my wife had taken one of my credit cards and had fun with that. Those accounts were also arriving in my inbox. I couldn’t understand any of this. My wife earns as much as I do. We both have very high profile jobs. She has her own car and her own credit cards – why use mine?

I sat there thinking why? That’s when I continued the thought and realised she also has her own life and her own friends – in fact, we’d drifted so far apart we no longer moved in any of the same circles. We’d settled into a style and a standard of life that actually prevented us from living. The truth is that we’d created an illusion by keeping up with the Joneses; and money and misery is a bad combination.

I contacted Martin Vermaak Attorneys’ team of Specialist Divorce and Family Law Lawyers. Clearly, this was on the cards and I needed advice. My friends said I was jumping the gun – it was too soon. My Attorneys proved otherwise and I’m so glad I went there early enough to stop the situation from unravelling too fast and in her favour. My Attorneys began drafting an urgent Application to get me back into my own house and advised me to leave it in their hands and get on with my life. I continued staying with my friend whilst waiting for the Agent to find me my own apartment. My Attorneys were successful with the Application and in no time at all I was back in my own residence.

She was hostile, provocative and aggressive. I went to the room I used as an office and made a few calls and then I heard the clicks on the line. After a little investigation I discovered that the wife was listening to all my calls – both private and business. I found my laptop, booted up and discovered it had been wiped clean: all my personal, private and business records – gone! The following day I had the firm’s IT guy check out my pc and discovered that most of my data could not be recovered.

No prizes for guessing that she had a boyfriend – I was being replaced with a newer, younger model – who just happened to be an IT specialist. He reformatted my laptop; set up a device that recorded my calls; I even had a tracking device in my car! She wanted a divorce and openly bragged about the fact that because of my high profile work I would never contest anything for fear of a scandal. Her Attorneys were also relying on that. They thought that I would just agree to any conditions set out in the Particulars of Claim.

Thanks to Martin Vermaak Attorneys I did contest her claims quite successfully and brought things to a manageable arrangement. She was very angry and so was the boyfriend and threats were made to damage my good name. My Attorney never let things get that far; my divorce went through quietly; neither my business nor social standing was damaged in any way and my name was kept out of the press.

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