Man Ordered to Pay Ex-Wife for Lack of Sex
A 51-year-old French man was recently ordered by a judge to pay his ex-wife $14,000 in damages. The reasoning behind the order: lack of sex.
The ex-wife claims that their marriage dissolved due to an absence of sex over their 21 year marriage.
The judge presiding over the case cited article 215 of France's civil code. This article states that married couples consent to a "shared communal life," which, according to this judge, includes "sexual relations."
Two years ago, the ex-wife filed for divorce blaming the breakup on her then husband. The judge granted the divorce and placed the blame entirely on the ex-husband.
According to the ex-husband, "tiredness and health problems" were the cause of his lack of sexual appetite. The judge didn't accept this excuse, explaining "a sexual relationship between husband and wife is the expression of affection they have for each other, and in this case it was absent….By getting married, couples agree to sharing their life and this clearly implies they will have sex with each other."
"Minnesota is a no fault divorce state which means that neither party needs to show any wrong doing on behalf of the other party to allow a divorce petition to proceed," says MN Divorce Attorney, Katie Lammers. "So, in Minnesota, even if one party cited lack of sex as the reason for a breakup, a court would not be interested in that type of 'marital misconduct.' However, a person may be entitled to an Annulment under Minnesota law if one party was not able to 'consummate' the marriage with sexual intercourse and the other party did not know this at the time of the marriage ceremony."
Related Sources:
Telegraph