Incompetence to Maintain a Divorce Action: When Breaking Up Is Odd to Do

Mossman, Douglas, Shoemaker, Amanda N., St. John's Law Review

I. INTRODUCTION

If a married person who has not been adjudicated incompetent1 seeks a divorce for reasons that sound very odd, bizarre, or crazy,2 how should the trial court3 respond? If the trial court knows a husband is seeking to divorce his wife for reasons that represent symptoms of a severe mental illness, but the husband understands the key factual implications of obtaining a divorce - ending the marriage, separating lives and property - should the trial court allow him to proceed? If not, how should the trial court respond to the husband's petition, and under what authority? In an era when "no-fault" and unilateral divorce laws offer unhappy spouses wide latitude to …

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Publication information: Article title: Incompetence to Maintain a Divorce Action: When Breaking Up Is Odd to Do. Contributors: Mossman, Douglas - Author, Shoemaker, Amanda N. - Author. Journal title: St. John's Law Review. Volume: 84. Issue: 1 Publication date: Winter 2010. Page number: 117+. © St. John's Law Review Association Fall 2008. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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