Court rules woman cannot divorce husband
● Supreme Court says it is ‘not for judges to change the law’ on divorce
A woman who wants to divorce her husband of 40 years because she says their marriage is unhappy has lost her case.
Five Supreme Court justices have ruled that Tini Owens must stay married to Hugh Owens.
The justices upheld previous rulings made by a Family Court judge and Court of Appeal judges in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
The ruling is unlikely to have implications in Scotland where the legal grounds for divorce are different.
Mrs Owens, 68, wants a divorce and said her marriage to Mr Owens, 80, is loveless and has broken down. She said he has behaved unreasonably and that she should not reasonably be expected to stay married.
But Mr Owens refused to agree to a divorce and denied
0 Hugh Owens and his wife, Tini, lived together in Worcestershire until she left the family home in 2015
Mrs Owens’s allegations about his behaviour. He said if their marriage has irretrievably broken down it is because she had an affair, or because she is “bored”.
The couple married
in
1978 and lived in Broadway, Worcestershire. They have two adult children. Mrs Owens petitioned for divorce in 2015 after moving out. She said she had been contemplating a divorce since 2012.
Supreme Court justices analysed rival legal arguments, which revolved around concepts of “unreasonable” behaviour and “fault”, at a Supreme Court hearing in London in May, and delivdivorce” ered their ruling yesterday. One, Lord Wilson, said the justices had ruled against Mrs Owens “with reluctance”. He said the question for Parliament was whether the law governing “entitlement to remained “satisfactory”.
He indicated that Mrs Owens would be able to divorce in 2020, when the couple have been separated for five years.
Supreme Court president Lady Hale said she found the case “very troubling”. But she said it was not for judges to “change the law”.
Mrs Owens’s solicitor said she was “devastated” by the decision and “cannot move forward with her life”.
Under the current law in England and Wales, unless people can prove their marriage has broken down due to adultery, unreasonable behaviour or desertion, the only way to obtain a divorce without a spouse’s consent is to live apart for five years. In Scotland, the period is two years.
The case has sparked debate about the potential introduction of “no-fault divorce”.
April Campbell, a partner at Aberdein Considine, said: “In Scotland, there are a huge gamut of behaviours which can be classed as intolerable and can lead to divorce.
“If [Mrs Owens] had brought this case in Scotland, she would be divorced by now.”