The Tel Aviv-Jaffa family court's Judge Erez Shani has canceled a father's obligation to pay child support to his ex-wife, after it became clear that the woman was alienating their daughter from her father, Israel Hayom reported.
"The father is nothing more than a source of money in the eyes of the mother and children," the judge wrote in his ruling. "The father figure has no place in the children's lives, including in that of the minor girl."
In addition to canceling the father's obligation to pay child support, the judge ordered the mother to pay 35,000 NIS in court fees, Israel Hayom added.
The couple separated in 2012, after the father became religious. After many attempts to renew his connection with his daughter, including through the court, the father was unsuccessful, due to the mother's encouragement. The father therefore submitted an appeal to cancel the 3,000 shekels per month he was paying in child support, due to a "lack of connection."
In his ruling, the judge noted how the mother ignored the court's previous demands to cooperate with the father's visits with his daughter.
"I have not found any real fault in the behavior of the plaintiff as contributing to the disconnect," the judge wrote. "If there is another guilty party in the daughter's determined decision, it is the influence of the defendant and the child's brother."
"The father is no more than a wallet with obligations, but with no rights. Let us say clearly: When the custodial parent does not contribute to the existence of the relationship, and acts to cut it off, then these actions may have financial consequences."
The judge also noted that cancellation of the child support will not harm the mother's ability to care for the girl, since the mother sold a home for five million shekel, chose not to work, and refrained from submitting information on her financial management and income.