It’s often said that January is the busiest month for divorce lawyers, and it’s not without reason. After the festive season’s stress and the New Year’s fresh start mentality, many couples find themselves reconsidering their marital vows. But while we’re accustomed to the common reasons for splits, sometimes the causes are surprising and even shocking.
Rachel Osgood, divorce lawyer and partner at DMH Stallard shares some of the most eye-opening stories from her career. These real-life experiences highlight why very little surprises a divorce lawyer.
Rachel said: “Just when you think you’ve heard and seen it all, someone comes into my office and describes a scenario that is unexpected, to say the least.
“Take, for example, the husband who presented his divorce petition based on her unreasonable behaviour. One of the husband’s complaints was that after every meal, the wife would break wind loudly and then laugh. Clearly, this had been a source of distress to the husband for many years.
“Another apparently caring husband thoughtfully suggested that his wife might like a trip to Australia to see friends. While she was away, he moved the nanny in, changed the locks, and refused to let her back in.
“Then there’s the unexpected windfall situation. It might be an inheritance or a gift from a wealthy godmother, but in my case, it was a lottery win. Not a huge one, but enough for the wife, who held the winning ticket, to decide she didn’t need her husband around for too much longer. She was far from thrilled to find that the ticket, paid for from a joint account, had to be shared between them. Not quite the rags-to-riches ending she was hoping for.
“Suspicion about marital status can also lead to surprising revelations. One bride-to-be pressed her dashing groom for reassurance, and he obligingly produced the decree absolute from his first marriage – signed, sealed, and delivered. I took one look at it – it was forged. Lucky for her, she avoided a bigamous marriage to a silver-tongued scoundrel, but she never got her fairytale wedding.
“Sometimes, the legal entanglements can be even more dramatic. A wife found herself struggling to preserve some of what she regarded as their wealth from various law enforcement agencies, who felt they had a greater entitlement to it than she did, thanks to the husband’s dodgy dealings. Losing the mock Tudor pile in Epping came as quite a surprise to them both, but the husband could only look on helplessly from his lodgings at Her Majesty’s convenience.
“Addictions can also reveal hidden truths. One client was shocked to find that her husband’s uncontrolled shopping had resulted in a fleet of high-performance sports cars about
which she knew nothing and a revolving door of working girls in and out of the family home. It was the Ring camera that did it for him.
“And let’s not forget the real family man – I haven’t dealt with this scenario myself, but many of my colleagues have. A couple, married for years, separated when the wife (and yes, it is always the wife, for obvious reasons) discovered that she was not the only woman in her husband’s life. Indeed, her children were not the only children in his life.
Those business trips? Those Christmas afternoons? Those lads’ weekends? All a cover for the fact that he had another house, another partner, and another couple of kids. Quite some surprise to the good lady wife. The break-up, not so much.”
While bizarre circumstances will no doubt continue to send some couples their separate ways, the overall UK divorce rate is going down. Whether that is the impact of volatile economic conditions, the cost of living crisis or the benefits of mediation, there are clearly still reasons to remain optimistic about married life, even in January.
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