A big divorce case that made the news back in May concerned Mrs Tini Owens who wished to divorce her husband, Mr Hugh Owens. Mrs Owens felt unhappy in her marriage which had lasted over four decades and with grown-up children, thought it was time to divorce. She moved out of the marital home in 2015 and filed for divorce. Her petition was rejected.

Why?

You may well be asking yourself why a woman can be forced to remain married. However, current UK divorce law demands that a couple prove that their marriage has broken down, giving one of only five reasons. ‘Because one of us wants to’ is not one of these options. The reasons are

• Adultery
• Unreasonable Behaviour
• Desertion
• If you’ve been separated for 2 years and both parties want to divorce
• Or separated for 5 years if only one party wants to divorce

In Mrs Owens case, she did not qualify for divorce because Hugh Owens did not consent to a divorce and they had not been separated for 5 years. She tried to argue that she should get divorced due to Hugh Owen’s ‘unreasonable behaviour’ but these were rejected as ‘of the kind to be expected in marriage’ by a family law judge.

In July, the Supreme Court rejected Tini Owen’s appeal, meaning she has to wait the whole 5 years (until 2020) to legally divorce Hugh.

For more information on grounds for getting a divorce, look at Gov website: Gov: Grounds for Divorce

For more information on the case, check out this BBC news article on the subject: BBC News: Owen’s Case and Discussion on Divorce