It’s clear to you that you’re no longer happy in your marriage, and you don’t think that your spouse is very happy, either. You propose that both of you would be better off if you just got a divorce.
However, your spouse is very opposed to the idea of divorce itself. Whether or not they’re happy doesn’t seem to sway them. They say that they don’t want to get a divorce and they won’t do it. What should you do?
You still have options
The first thing to do is probably just to talk this out with your spouse to find out why they’re so opposed to divorce and what you can do to move forward with this process. Some couples go to counseling or talk to other professionals to try to dig through these issues.
But you may find a situation where your spouse simply refuses to go along with it and will not talk about divorce, sign the papers, go to court appointments or anything else.
If you do get to this point, then it’s important to understand that the court can still give you a divorce. They can always rule in your favor with a default divorce, and it doesn’t actually matter if your spouse agrees or not.
If your spouse disagrees, however, this means that you’re probably going to run into a lot more conflict as you get the divorce. It may also be difficult to communicate with your spouse about things like asset division or child custody. They can never stop you from getting a divorce just because they don’t want one, but it’s still very important for you to understand all the legal options and the steps you’ll need to take at this time.
