The Strangest Reasons People Get Divorced, According To Divorce Lawyers
Petty reasons people filed for divorce.
GaudiLab | Shutterstock Divorce lawyers swarmed to Reddit after user u/KylonneSpencer asked: “Divorce lawyers of Reddit, what is the strangest reason your client filed divorce for?”
The comments hit more than 6,400 by the following day, and the responses ranged from very funny to very messed up. Are they ultimately, a little sad? Sure. But, man, are they eye-opening.
The strangest reasons people get divorced, according to divorce lawyers:
1. Not remembering insignificant details
Responding to the thread, Reddit user u/BlankSmitty got the top comment when he replied: “I had a client file for divorce because every morning his wife would ask him how he takes his coffee … for seven years.”
2. Not helping with a simple task
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Another responded that his client “didn’t help her put up a shower curtain. It may have been a straw that broke the camel’s back situation though.”
3. Having a debt
Redditor u/RavenHairBeauty said, “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 already blew through their life savings gambling.” Yikes.
4. Having an annoying habit
One Redditor mentioned, “My neighbor filed for divorce because he smacked his lips when he ate and slurped his coffee and soup.” Another said, “I had one person who got divorced because her husband wouldn’t take her out to the movies anymore.”
And while some were, on their face, a little bit funny, research on the relationship between financial issues and divorce in the Family Relations Journal showed they also spoke to what must have been deeper and more severe issues in the marriages themselves.
5. Having a psychic hotline compulsion
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Another woman’s husband filed for divorce because she had spent a whopping $42,000 on psychic hotlines. Yet another said she divorced her husband because of his body. Another reason is because his wife kept eating "his” food, these all could have been reconciled if the spouses were willing, as suggested by a study in the Journal of Divorce & Remarriage.
6. Having a problem using too much toilet paper
And, because this one’s too good not to mention, one Redditor explained how their boss got a divorce because of toilet paper. “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.'”
So, if you want to read about the varied reasons unions dissolve to be a better partner — or simply want to enjoy a bit of schadenfreude — the thread is worth a pretty good read.
But if we were to summarize the findings, it would be this: dates still matter, food should be chewed with your mouth closed, don’t forget the small things (like how your partner takes their coffee), and practice financial intimacy, according to a study in the European Economic Review.
But all jokes aside, let's hope divorce brought these couples a semblance of peace.
Lizzy Francis is a writer and editor who has had fiction and poetry published in magazines associated with New York University like the West 4th Street Review and the Gallatin Review.