'I'll be slave to ex-wife' broke dad tells court
An unemployed father has told a judge in Spain he is willing to become his ex-wife's 'slave' as he can no longer afford to pay the monthly €1,600 ($2,200) child support payments legally agreed after their divorce.
After three and a half years without work, Alejandro Sánchez Vázquez is desperate to find a solution to a financial burden he can no longer afford.
In 2008, a Magistrates Court in the Andalusian town of Coría del Río ruled that the then real estate agent would have to pay his ex-wife €1,600 every month to cover the mortgage of the family home as well as food costs for their children.
The sum was fixed on the understanding that the man had "sufficient financial means" to cover such costs, having told the court he was "the joint head of a company and managing director of another".
But when Spain's housing bubble burst, Sánchez Vázquez lost all business and "had to move in with his mother", local daily El Diario de Sevilla reported on Sunday.
"I receive financial help from my current partner as I've been blacklisted for loan applications, mortgages, bank accounts, everything.
"Many fathers are suffering the very same torment, that's why they're committing suicide."
Sánchez Vázquez has tried to have the clauses of the divorce sentence amended but on both occasions the judges have dismissed his claims of impoverishment.
"I have no earnings and I'm so desperate that I have to offer myself to be my ex-wife’s slave," he told the court.
Sánchez Vázquez's ex-wife, who is in work, "owns her own personal villa and is enriching herself at my expense", he added.
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After three and a half years without work, Alejandro Sánchez Vázquez is desperate to find a solution to a financial burden he can no longer afford.
In 2008, a Magistrates Court in the Andalusian town of Coría del Río ruled that the then real estate agent would have to pay his ex-wife €1,600 every month to cover the mortgage of the family home as well as food costs for their children.
The sum was fixed on the understanding that the man had "sufficient financial means" to cover such costs, having told the court he was "the joint head of a company and managing director of another".
But when Spain's housing bubble burst, Sánchez Vázquez lost all business and "had to move in with his mother", local daily El Diario de Sevilla reported on Sunday.
"I receive financial help from my current partner as I've been blacklisted for loan applications, mortgages, bank accounts, everything.
"Many fathers are suffering the very same torment, that's why they're committing suicide."
Sánchez Vázquez has tried to have the clauses of the divorce sentence amended but on both occasions the judges have dismissed his claims of impoverishment.
"I have no earnings and I'm so desperate that I have to offer myself to be my ex-wife’s slave," he told the court.
Sánchez Vázquez's ex-wife, who is in work, "owns her own personal villa and is enriching herself at my expense", he added.
Don't miss stories about Spain, join The Local on Facebook and Twitter.
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