Belly dancing costs woman alimony

Belly dancing costs woman alimony

A woman lost her $US850 (RM2,567) alimony when pictures of her belly dancing in her blog was discovered by her ex-husband.

Dorothy McGurk, 43, won the settlement of $850 (RM2567) a month after she told courts that a car accident in 1997 had left her with difficulty moving.

But estranged husband Brian McGuurk, 37, was alerted to pictures of her gyrating in a series of belly dancing moves that she bragged about on a blog.

The blog: "It won't be enough until I dance for you all" McGurk wrote.

The Richmond County Supreme Court in New York has now overturned McGurk's maintenance payments and ordered her to move out of the couple's marital home.

"She told outright lies" the husband's lawyer Thomas Kyle told the New York Daily News.

He added, "If she could blog for hours, if she could dance the day away in Manhattan, then how is it she couldn't hold down a job?"

The couple broke up several years ago and Mrs McGurk, who the court said had 'slept all day' while her husband worked and did household chores, was awarded the maintenance payments to help her live.

She had claimed that a car accident had left her unable to work.

But she took up belly dancing at the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors, a new age gallery in Chelsea, some three years ago and spent hours every day writing about the vigorous physical activity in her blog.

The judge believed the McGurk's evidence that he did all of the cooking, cleaning, and laundry in addition to holding a full time job.

The payments were reduced to $US400 (RM1207) a month for the next two years and Mrs McGurk was ordered to pay $5,000 (RM15,099) plus interest to cover her husband's legal fees.

McGurk insisted that she had been prescribed belly dancing as a treatment for her injuries, but that claim was denied by her doctor.
Source: All! Metro N ews

Published April 19 2011