missing hidden money not included in divorce settlement

Mr and Mrs decided to get a divorce and divide their possessions between them.

Mr had used the bottom of the air conditioner as a hiding place for a wad of cash, totaling 90,000nis,  that he had saved from an inheritance, after he put it in the safe only to discover that Mrs used her access to the safe to dip into the money and use it for household expenses.

Mr accused Mrs of having taken the 90k and tells the beis din that he wants the 90k deducted from her portions of the division of assets. Mrs denies having taken the money and says she'll submit herself to a polygraph to prove it. Mrs says Mr must have taken it and wants it deducted from his portion of the division of assets.

The background to the money is that Mr sold the apartment of his dead parents. The sale brought in 450,000nis. About half of it was used to pay off the mortgage, and he put the balance in his safe in the house. After a while he noticed a lot of the money was missing.Mrs then admitted to using the money for the household expenses, though the incident prompted Mr to move the money and hide it from his wife so it would not get used up.

Upon the decision to divorce, he opened up the air conditioner and found that all the money was gone.

Legally, according to the article, inheritance belongs to the inheritor and is not shared with the spouse. Unless the inheritor chooses to share it with the spouse.

Back to the divorce case...

The beis din in Haifa decided that because Mr did not deposit the inheritance money into a personal account that only he would have access to, but chose to bring the money into his house and leave it there, the money should be considered as hers as well, as he clearly chose to share it with her. Because Mr had no proof that Mrs took it from the air conditioner, and because she was willing to take a polygraph and he was not, the beis din decided to not take that money into account at all in the division of assets - the money is gone and was spent by the house.
source: Haredim10

everybody knows you are supposed to hide your cash in the cavity of a frozen chicken in the freezer!

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