The simple mistake of a law firm clerk accidentally choosing the wrong file from a dropdown menu on an online portal led to the irrevocable divorce of the wrong couple.

A senior judge recently refused to overturn the divorce of a couple who had accidentally been chosen from a dropdown menu by solicitors at leading London law firm Vardags, headed by Ayesha Vardag. The couple, referred to as Mr and Mrs Williams by the court, had been married for 21 years until 2023 when they separated. The couple was still in the process of arranging financial agreements for their separation when a Vardags clerk accidentally selected them for a final divorce order on an online portal, which saw them legally divorced in just 21 minutes. All attempts to have the error overturned by the judge were denied because the public trust in a truly final divorce order was more important.

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In a high-profile divorce case that sparked heated debates in China, a man divorced his wife of 16 years after learning that none of the three children she birthed during their marriage were his.

In December 2007, Chen Zhixian married Yu Hua, a woman eight years his junior, soon after meeting her for the first time. She seemed like a simple, down-to-earth woman, and his parents had long been pressuring him to settle down, so he never really took the time to know her. Soon after tying the knot, Yu Hua informed Chen that she was pregnant, and he was so overwhelmed by the news that he was going to be a father, that he never realized his wife had to have already been pregnant when they met to have a child when she did. Yu gave birth to the couple’s first daughter, and her husband became a long-distance freight driver who was away for most of the year, only coming home, in Dexing, Jianxi Province, for short periods of time.

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A provincial court in Pontevedra, Spain, recently ruled that a man must pay his ex-wife 88,025 euros ($95,898) as compensation for her work as a housewife during 26 years of marriage.

The unnamed couple married in 1996, and until their separation in 2022, the wife only worked outside the family home for a total of 205 days spread across several years, dedicating herself to raising their only daughter and keeping the household in order. After their separation, the husband remained in the family home that had long been paid for, while she had to go out and rent her own place. She had to find a job immediately in order to support herself, but because she spent 26 years of her life as a housewife, she will likely be entitled to a very small pension, unlike her husband who dedicated his life to his professional career. Now, the woman is seeking compensation for all her years of housework.

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A Turkish woman recently filed a lawsuit against her husband, claiming that he rarely showered, smelled of sweat, and brushed his teeth only once or twice per week.

The woman, identified only as A.Y. by Turkish news media, filed for divorce from her husband, C.Y., citing his lack of personal hygiene as the main reason. The plaintiff’s lawyer told the 19th Family Court in Ankara that the defendant wore the same clothes for at least 5 days in a row, rarely showered, and constantly reeked of sweat. Witnesses were brought in to confirm these claims, including mutual acquaintances and even some of the husband’s co-workers. They all gave statements confirming the defendant’s poor personal hygiene. The court approved the woman’s request for a divorce and also ordered the husband to pay her 500,000 Turkish lira ($16,500) as compensation to his now-former spouse for putting up with his lack of personal hygiene.

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An Indian man who has been separated from his wife for nearly 40 years and has been trying to divorce her for 27 years, had his request for divorce dismissed by the Supreme Court earlier this month.

It’s no secret that divorce is a taboo subject in India, a country where the legal annulment of marriage is usually only obtained in cases of clear proof of violence or cruelty by one of the spouses. Family and social pressure often force people to remain engaged in unhappy marriages, but even when one of them demands a divorce, it is rarely granted by the courts. These irrefutable facts were recently confirmed once again in a court case that made international news headlines. An 89-year-old retired Air Force Officer and qualified doctor who had been trying to divorce his 82-year-old wife, a retired teacher, for almost three decades, has once again been denied by India’s Supreme Court, despite agreeing that their marriage was ‘beyond salvation’.

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A Chinese woman recently filed a lawsuit requesting a divorce from her husband of less than a year, claiming that he blackmailed her into the marriage with some sensitive photos.

According to Li Song Song’s lawsuit, she and her husband, Tan Dan, met in May of 2022, at a party. She didn’t pay too much attention to him, but he apparently became obsessed with her, even going to the salon where she worked every day. Because he didn’t give him the attention he craved, Tan allegedly started finding ways of chasing clients away from the salon, just so he could be alone with his love interest. However, Song was less than impressed with his tactics and refused to give in to his advances. In the lawsuit, the woman claims that she saw him as an unreliable and conniving person.

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A Chinese woman recently divorced her husband of 10 years, because of his addiction to fishing, a hobby he often put before his family.

According to a divorce case filed with the Juye County People’s Court in Shandong province, the woman, surnamed Zhang, claimed that she had had enough of her husband’s fishing addiction. She claimed to take care of all the house chores and their two children, while he sits on the sofa looking at his smartphone and going out to fish with his friends after dinner every evening. After repeatedly asking him to spend more time with her and the children than with his fishing buddies, Zhang decided that divorce was the only viable option.

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A Japanese couple who can’t agree on their last name has agreed to divorce and remarry every three years so they can take turns using their respective last names.

Japanese law clearly states that couples must agree on a single last name to use after they get married, but what happens when two lovers just can’t decide which one of their family names to use? That was the conundrum a young couple from Hachioji city, on the outskirts of Tokyo, found themselves in when they decided to tie the knot, after a few months of dating. Only when it came to settling on their last name, she made it clear that she intended to keep her maiden name, something that her husband didn’t agree with at all. They argued about it for a while, but then they decided that they weren’t the first couple to have this problem and that there was a way to solve it.

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An Egyptian man is reportedly seeking a divorce from his new wife, claiming that he can’t get used to her natural look after seeing her without makeup.

In what seems like the script of a hilarious sketch or an article on The Onion, an Egyptian man reportedly filed for divorce from his wife-of-one-month, because he just couldn’t get used to her appearance without makeup. Apparently, the two met on Facebook, where the woman always posted attractive photos of herself, but even after going out with her a few times, the unnamed man still found her attractive and decided to marry her. The problems began on the morning after the wedding night when the man saw his bride without makeup for the first time.

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In a landmark divorce ruling, a Chinese court ordered a man to pay thousands of dollars to his ex-wife, as compensation for housework performed during their five-year marriage.

According to court papers, the man, identified only as Chen, filed from divorce from his wife, Wang, last year, after a five-year marriage. Although reluctant to grant him the divorce at first, the woman later requested that he compensate her for all the work she did as a full-time housewife during their marriage, adding that he had not participated in raising their child and “barely cared about or participated in any kind of domestic chores”. Recently, a Beijing family court ruled in the woman’s favor, sparking a heated debate in China.

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In what can only be described as one of the most bizarre divorce pretexts ever, a Muslim woman has asked a Sharia court to end her marriage because her husband because he lover her too much.

The unidentified woman from the Sambhal district of India’s Uttar Pradesh state recently approached the Sambhal Sharia court to ask for a divorce from her husband of just 18 months. Asked to explain her request, the woman said that her spouse loved her too much and never argued with her, which she just found impossible to accept. To make matters “worse”, the woman’s husband also cooked and cleaned for her, and helped with various house chores. She declared herself “fed up” and asked the members of the court to end her marriage.

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Singaporean media recently reported the bizarre divorce case of a couple whose separation was largely caused by the wife’s obsession with cats, which eventually drove her husband out of their house.

In a sentence issued on May 21, Judge Sheik Mustafa Abu Hassan pronounced the official divorce of a couple that been married for 45 years, but separated for the last 14 years. The couple, neither of whom were named during the court proceedings to protect their identities, had reportedly married in 1975 and had three children over the course of their marriage. A number of incidents and reasons for the divorce were cited by the husband, the most unusual of which was definitely his wife’s obsession with cats.

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A 20-year-old Indian woman filed for divorce from her husband this week, claiming that he stank too bad, because he only bathed once every 10 days.

Soni Devi, a woman from Bihar’s Vaishali district, filed an application for divorce from her husband, on grounds that he did not maintain proper hygiene and did not have any manners. She argued that being married to her husband, a 23-year-old plumber had been a humiliation and had ruined her life. In her official divorce application, the 20-year-old woman wrote that her husband hardly ever bathed or brushed his teeth and didn’t follow any social etiquette rules. She asked the court to rid of her husband.

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A Texas man is wanted on a third-degree felony aggravated forgery charge after police discovered that he was trying to get a divorce from his wife without her even knowing he was divorcing her.

Paul Nixon, 51, of Harris County, in Texas, allegedly forged his wife’s signature as well as that of a public notary to make it look as if his spouse had consented to the divorce. According to court records, Nixon filed for divorce on February 15 – ironically, the day after Valentine’s Day – and a judge signed an order that made the divorce official in April. A Harris County constable told reporters that his ex-wife only learned that Nixon had divorced her in may, when she confronted him about his unusual money spending.

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An Indian woman recently made national news headlines for seeking divorce from her husband on grounds that he is so busy studying for the nationwide UPSC examination that he spends almost no time with her.

The unnamed woman, who hails from the city of Bhopal,  has alleged in family court that her husband spends all day preparing for the difficult UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) exam, never has time to go out with her, and sometimes doesn’t speak a word to her. She also told a counselor at the District Legal Service Authority in Bhopal that her husband is always too busy studying to take her out shopping or to watch a movie, and doesn’t even visit his relatives. After a while, it all got too much to bear, so she decided to get a divorce.

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