1,546. A Husband Who Goes Abroad

Hilchos Ishus 12:16

Let’s say that a man travels abroad and his wife goes to court to file a claim for her maintenance. She is not given funds for the first three months from the day of her husband’s departure because the assumption is that a man doesn’t go on such a journey without taking care of his household’s needs. After this, she is provided with the funds for her maintenance. If the husband has possessions, the court sells them to provide for her needs; the wife’s income is not taken into account until the husband returns. If it is determined that she earned money in his absence, he is entitled to it. Even if the woman doesn’t take the matter to court, selling her husband’s possessions on her own initiative in order to acquire funds for her maintenance, her sale of such property is binding and there is no need to make a public announcement. Similarly, the wife need not take an oath until her husband returns and files a claim against her or until she comes to claim the money of her kesubah should her husband die. In these cases, we combine the oaths required in those cases with an oath that she didn’t sell any more of her husband’s possessions than necessary for her maintenance.

Hilchos Ishus 12:17

Just as the court sells the property of an absent husband to provide for his wife, they do so to provide for sons and daughters age six or younger. Over the age of six, the court doesn’t provide their needs by selling his property in his absence, even if it is believed that he has the funds. Similarly, if a man loses his reason, the court will confiscate his possessions and sell them to provide the maintenance and other needs of his wife and any children up to the age of six.