He refuses to divorce
He refuses to divorce
"I've asked my husband to leave the marital home but he won't agree. I want to start divorce proceedings, which my husband is also refusing to do. What are my rights and the consequences of his attitude? What can I do?
Delphine, Geneva
Under art. 172 of the Civil Code, if you and your husband disagree on a matter of importance to the marriage, you may ask the judge to intervene. You have the right to refuse to live together if your personality, your material security or the good of your family are seriously threatened. The reasons for dissolving a marriage must therefore carry a certain amount of weight. In assessing the situation, the judge will take into account the spouses' personal relationships with each other and with the rest of the family. The threat must be related to the cohabitation, i.e. the physical, economic and spiritual community of life of the spouses. If the suspension of your life together is justified, you may ask the judge to take measures regarding the allocation of the home and household furniture and to determine any contributions to your maintenance and that of the children.
However, under art. 114 of the Civil Code, a spouse may unilaterally apply for a divorce if they have lived apart for at least two years. If the spouses are living under the same roof but do not wish to live together, a judge may, depending on the circumstances, accept that they are already living separately. After two years of living apart, each spouse has an absolute right to divorce. At that point, you will be able to file a unilateral petition with the judge despite your husband's refusal. It should also be noted that a spouse cannot be required to wait until two years have elapsed when serious reasons for which he or she is not responsible make the continuation of the marriage unbearable; in this case, he or she may apply for a divorce before the expiry of the period laid down by law. Such serious grounds include, for example, marital violence or serious physical or psychological abnormalities in one of the spouses.
