For anyone familiar with that famous Seinfeld episode with the Soup Nazi, “No soup for you,” brings back funny memories. However, one family court judge seems to be taking this mantra into divorce cases.
The case
The case is from Kentucky’s Bullitt County Family Court, where the judge mandated that the couple go to counseling, even though the couple has already spent thousands on that process, and the husband is currently dating another person. The couple was married for 13 years and have been separated for about a year.
What led to the decision?
Apparently, the couple was too cordial, making the judge believe the marriage could be salvaged. Both parties and their attorneys agree that it is an amicable divorce where the pair has agreed to put their child’s needs first. Though, no one expected that cordiality to backfire and lead to a divorce denial. Indeed, the judge said, “I get the vibe that you might be able to work this out, and I could be wrong, but I sit through a lot of these things.”
Accordingly, she read the family law statutes to allow her to ensure that the marriage was irretrievably broken. The judge even went as far as baring either spouse to introduce their child to anyone either is dating, and stating that the couple must prove to her that they actually tried to salvage their marriage.
Does this mean that couples should not be amicable?
No. Amicability should be the goal because it will result in fairer results and less litigation, which saves both Mobile, Alabama, spouses time and money. We should take this case as an outlier for divorce law.
