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Woman refused divorce from ‘unreasonable’ husband

By Darren White

I was saddened to see that on Friday the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal of a wife who had brought a petition to get divorced from her husband for unreasonable behaviour.

Petitions based on unreasonable behaviour are presented to the court on a frequent basis.  As a solicitor it is an extremely rare circumstance where a petition is rejected on the grounds that the criteria are not met.

In this case the courts have indicated that because Mrs Owens failed to prove that her husband “has behaved in such a way that she cannot reasonably be expected to live with him” that her divorce cannot proceed.

The petition set out how Mr Owens allegedly;

  • Prioritised his work over family life
  • Provided no love or affection towards her
  • Had mood swings which lead to frequent argument
  • Was unpleasant about her to family and friends
  • They had lived in separate rooms for a number of years.

It would seem on the face of it to be more than sufficient grounds for unreasonable behaviour to be proven. So where did the court find fault?  The case itself was defended by the husband and was heard over the space of a day, with both parties giving evidence upon the allegations and inviting the judge to make findings. Within the judgment, which is some 35 pages long, the Court highlights the test that it adopts, firstly looking subjectively at how wife reacted to the situation, but then goes on to consider objectively would a reasonable person be expected to continue to live with husband following this behaviour. In the original case the wife was found to be “sensitive” and the husband “old school.”  It was felt by the judge that a lot of the incidents were isolated and may have been exaggerated.

The Court of Appeal had to ultimately dismiss the appeal, as it was felt the trial judge did not err when he applied the current law.  Whilst this would seem unfair, this highlights the need for a change in the law to adopt a no fault divorce.  The no fault divorce is common in Canada, Australia and in certain states within the USA. It is something that many campaigners in the UK have been asking for a number of years including a number of prominent figures such as Sir James Munby, president of the Family Division and Sir Paul Coleridge, chairman of the Marriage Foundation.

It seems rather archaic in an age where human rights are so prevalent a wife should be forced to remain in a marriage when clearly she is unhappy.  I am hopeful that given the public opinion surrounding this issue that the government will again re-examine the law to see if there is a place for the non fault based divorce in the society we live in.