A British woman seeking to divorce her husband because she is unhappy in her marriage has lost her appeal at the Supreme Court, BBC reported on Wednesday.
Tini Owens (68) from Worcestershire asked the court to grant her a divorce from her husband Hugh (80), with whom she has been married for 40 years and who does not want a divorce.
The Supreme Court unanimously dismissed Tini Owens’ lawsuit, meaning the unhappy woman in an unhappy marriage must remain until 2020.
According to current law in England and Wales, unless spouses can prove that their marriage has broken down due to adultery, unreasonable behavior, or the departure of one spouse, the only way for a person to obtain a divorce without their spouse’s consent is to live separately for five years.
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Tini Owens is, according to her lawyer, “desperate” about the ruling. He stated that she began thinking about divorce in 2012 but only left the family home in February 2015, which means she must remain married to her husband Hugh until 2020. The couple married in 1978 and has two adult children.
Tini says that their marriage is irretrievably broken, that her husband’s behavior is very unreasonable, that she has been unhappy in the marriage for a long time, and that she wants to end it. However, her husband believes that Tini is seeking a divorce “because she may have a lover or is bored in the marriage,” BBC reports.
