A divorce is most often a painful event which is spurred by serious issues. But what about spouses that decide to split over the little things? While a minor inconvenience like the sound of slurping coffee or spending too much time with the dog may seem trivial, little things like these have led to separations! However, the fact that these tiny problems can lead to divorce isn't what surprises lawyers the most. Some spousal problems are just plain absurd!
Anyone who has been through a divorce can pinpoint the reasons they decided to cut their marriage short. However, very few have explanations that compare to these unusual stories. From having a relationship in a virtual world to selling a shared house for $11, no strange reason for separation is off limits for these odd divorcees.
Here are strange reasons that spouses have given for their divorce to their lawyers.
Don't forget to check the comment section below the article for more interesting stories!
#1 Swapping Out Spouses
I had two couples come to me.
They had been friends for 15 years.
Husband A decided he liked Wife B more than Wife A. Wife A decided she likes Husband B more than Husband A.
The reverse was also true, and Husband B preferred Wife A, Wife B preferred Husband A.
The couples had near identical assets in terms of value. They came to me altogether, and I drafted two sets of paperwork. Two default judgment hearings were set on the same day. The judge signed all the papers the same day.
#2 Forgetting Their Coffee Preference
I had a client file for divorce because every morning his wife would ask him how he takes his coffee... for seven years.
#3 A Pinball-Obsessed Hubby
He loved his pinball machine collection more than her. Also, it turns out some pinball machines can be worth a boat load of money.
#4 Manipulating Their Dogs' Affection
My friend specializes in family law. His wife wanted to divorce her husband because he kept taking their dogs for walks while she was at work, making it (unintentionally) so they’d rather cuddle the husband instead of her after a long day.
#5 Ghosting His Girlfriend After Tying The Knot
A couple got married but never lived together. Shortly after marriage, the husband dropped off the face of the earth and the wife had no way of contacting him. She didn't know any of his family and apparently the place he told her he worked at never heard of him. He disconnected his cell phone and she even hired a private detective to try and locate him with no success.
Finally, she tried to file for divorce (for obvious reasons) but for service to be considered valid the defendant has to be physically handed service papers. Since she couldn't find out where he was she couldn't even get divorced from him. She had to sue in court just to get permission from a judge to allow service through Facebook because that was literally the only means she had of contacting her husband.
#6 Getting House Money For Gambling
I'm a divorce lawyer. One client filed for divorce because he owed his bookie $70,000. He didn't want to leave his wife but he figured he would get half the house in the divorce, which was worth $700,000 and pay his debts. He had already blown through their life savings gambling. He was the worst guy.
#7 An Insanely Strange Motherly Bond
I heard of a woman that had her marriage annulled because the groom insisted on bringing his mother on their honeymoon. Then, on the honeymoon, the bride discovered the reason he wanted to bring his mother was to breastfeed him. Yes, the groom, a grown man, was still breastfeeding.
#8 An Affair In A Virtual World
I am a lawyer. One of mine that sticks out is that the husband and wife both played some sort of online role-playing game, sort of like the Sims I think but a little more elaborate and adult ('Second Life' maybe?). I don't know anything about online games.
The wife got heavily involved with the game, like 10 hours a day, and wouldn't reduce her time playing no matter what he said. What tipped things over the edge, however, was that he set up a fake profile/avatar and went online to stalk her in the game and found her avatar doing the deed with some random guy's avatar.
Nothing ever happened in real life (neither of them were exactly oil paintings to look at) but that was enough for the guy to initiate a fairly acrimonious divorce.
#9 Speaking To Spirits And Selling Their House For $11
I am not a lawyer but did spend six months costing Legal Aid cases for solicitors in the early '90s. This included many divorces.
The most notable one was a woman divorcing her husband because he discovered he could talk to the dead on their honeymoon and then later spent all their money on spiritualist groups.
That wasn't what made it notable. During the divorce, the woman left the house. At some point, her husband approached her and claimed that as he was letting the house fall into ruin, it would be better for both of them if he sold the house and split the proceeds with her. She agreed to this without consulting her solicitor.
A few weeks later the husband gave her £5. She asked what it was for. It was her share of the house. He'd sold it to his sister for £10 and kept living there. When she went to complain to her solicitors, she found they'd done the conveyancing for him. He'd deliberately used his wife's divorce solicitors and nobody at the firm had realized.
#10 A Rambling Wife And Impatient Husband
My dad split from my mom because "she takes too long to tell a story." He was actually having affair #4795809374 and that came out shortly after. But this was one of the main reasons he gave when they did a counseling session together.
#11 Motherly Intervention While Stranded In The Desert
This guy signs over Power of Attorney to his mother before leaving. As soon as he was out of the country the mother files for divorce from the wife because they never got along. The dude is in the middle of the desert and didn't know until he came back in three weeks after the fact.
#12 A Wife Who's Weak At Golfing
A friend of the family got divorced by her husband because she couldn't outperform him on the golf course... We all think he was cheating and just wanted an excuse but she did say he would often yell at her in public while golfing and mock her for her "attention to detail" whatever that means in golf... He would also force the family to go golfing on most weekends so it's hard to say if that was the real reason or not. She doesn't even like golf but was, and still is, afraid to tell him that.
#13 String Of Extravagant Honeymoons
In my 20s (back in the '80s), I met a friend's friend who married and ended those marriages (not sure how - divorce or annulment) for 'fancy parties' (wedding receptions), 'money/gifts' (wedding gifts) and 'vacations' (honeymoons).
She would get married and immediately upon return from the honeymoon, end the marriage and off to find the next guy. In the 7 years or so that I knew of her, she'd been married 4 times.
#14 Homicidal Over Slurping Sounds
My neighbor filed for divorce because he smacked his lips when he ate and slurped his coffee and soup. She thought if she didn't she would end up in jail for battery.
#15 A Catastrophic Trip To The Movies
She refused to allow her son to see a movie because her husband wanted him to go to said movie. He took their son to see the movie anyway.
#16 Pricey Calls To The Future
She spent $42,000 on psychic hotlines. Notable, she then wouldn’t accept any of our offers, and I continuously asked her lawyer to provide counter-offers... shouldn’t her psychic have told her how the case would turn out?!?
#17 Fleeing With Lottery Winnings
My friend woke up really early, one reason, because of middle age. So while he makes coffee he checks the lottery numbers and they didn't hit a single number. He realizes he needs milk for the coffee and runs to the corner store. He starts to buy lottery tickets for the next drawing and comes up with what should have been a funny idea. He buys another ticket and plays the numbers that had already won the night before.
He goes home and puts the ticket on the fridge where the other ones were thinking she will have no reason to pay attention to the day they are for. An hour later the wife gets up and makes some coffee and he yells from the living room that he hasn't checked the lottery numbers yet and for her to see if they won anything last night. He hears her use the laptop to check the numbers and then she is quiet for a minute.
He said he had this big grin on his face waiting for her to start yelling they won and thinking how funny it would be (I actually think fake winning lottery tickets, and the prank he was pulling, are mean, but that is beside the point).
She yells from the kitchen that they didn't win anything. She heads back upstairs and 15 minutes later she comes through the living room with both their elementary age kids in tow and says she forgot to tell him she had to go to her mom's for the day and was taking the kids and just leaves.
He was shocked. He went and checked and the lottery ticket is gone, not in the trash or anywhere else. He realizes she thinks they won the lottery and she is trying to run off with the winnings.
#18 Incompatible Over A Bedroom Door
My mom closed the door of the bedroom. My dad hated that door being closed. They divorced.
#19 Purchasing Terribly Pricey Shampoo
One of the reasons my mom gave my dad on why they needed a divorce was that he bought expensive shampoo.
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#20 Lying About College Enrollment (And Blowing "Tuition" Money)
My friend got married to a guy and they were both going to schools in the same town but not the same school. One day, months after they were married, she didn't have classes and decided to surprise her husband by visiting him on campus.
Except when she went to the office to find where his class was held, she eventually finds out he's not even enrolled. We still don't know what he was doing or what he did with the "tuition" money (pretty sure gambling) because he refused to ever say.
#21 Hatred For The "Devil" Internet
My brother got divorced because he used the internet for banking. They were a religious couple, and she went to a speech that said the internet is the devil. She asked him to stop, but he needed to use the internet for work functions. Aghast that he had an uncontrollable addiction, she took the kids and fled the state the next day.
We thought the whole time that there was a deeper issue that she was just using the internet as cover, but nope. The proceedings are over, and that's what she claimed in court when she was going after everything he had and custody. She thought it was a slam dunk.
#22 Staining The Counter (And Their Marriage) With Carrot Juice
Both of my parents acknowledge that the straw that broke the camel's back for them was a night when my very health-conscious father was making carrot juice in the kitchen after the kitchen was remodeled. He didn't clean up a small spill behind the juicer and it seeped into the new white countertop and permanently stained it.
Now my siblings and I scream whenever someone mentions anything about drinking juice.
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#23 A Marriage-Slaughtering Sandwich
My mother-in-law divorced my father-in-law because he ate a sandwich... she got crushed (relatively speaking) in the divorce because she couldn’t get a decent lawyer to take her seriously.
#24 Turbulent Over Toilet Paper
My boss just got divorced. His wife was telling people one of her reasons was the amount of toilet paper he used. She was a super coupon clipper thrifty lady and would listen when he went to the bathroom to see if he was using “too much TP.”
#25 Too Attached To Man's Best Friend
My friend told me about a situation where the wife was fed up with the husband spending to much time with his dog.
#26 Foot Rub?
My dad has been married several times (more than 4). His last wife asked him to rub her feet and he said no. She told him to get the heck out. He was super excited and said ok bye, you will hear from my attorney.
Obviously that was the straw that broke the camel's back. Makes me laugh every time someone ask why did they split up?!! No feet rub for you!!
#27 Why Twice?
My parents. Turns out remarrying each other wasn't such a great idea and they enjoyed their first divorce so much they wanted to do it again.
#28 You Did What?
While my dad was in Vietnam his first wife adopted a child without telling him. That ended their marriage.
#29 Good Dude
Not a lawyer but my great grandfather (who died after 3 wives) had married his second wife the day he was to sign divorce papers with the first.
Great guy.
#30 You Heard What?
I heard on the Dave Glover show that some women are trying to say their husband cheated because they had "alone time" with blow-up dolls.
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#31 Mean Lady
I'm not a lawyer, but the electrician who did all the cables in the house that went through a tough divorce. Apparently the wife just got up one day and said she wanted a divorce for literally no reason. Like, she actually had no reason, just left and didn't want to see the kids anymore.
Years later she accused him of domestic abuse and got the kids back. The poor guy lost his business, his house and almost his second marriage trying to win them back and prove his innocence.
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#32 Gamer
A woman I know filed for divorce because her husband "plays too much PlayStation."
