Many couples struggle in their marriage. Some overcome those struggles, but others might find themselves at a crossroads. In those cases, one of the spouses might want the divorce, but the other spouse might be reluctant and disagree. There are many reasons why people might resist divorce.
Fear of financial struggles
One of the reasons a person might resist a divorce is fear of the financial consequences. For example, a young mother in her 20s who is in a struggling marriage might feel that divorce is the only way to settle the couple’s issues but might resist this because she worries about how she will be able to support her children if the divorce does occur.
Fear of losing the kids
Fear of losing the kids in a divorce is another reason a parent might resist the divorce process. For example, a father in his 40s with teenage children might be worried that he will lose custody of the children during the divorce. This might cause him to push back and attempt to continue in a failing marriage.
Fear of the future
Divorces between older adults continue to grow, but fear of the future and how lives intertwined for so many years might be affected often make one of the spouses reluctant to pursue a divorce. Figuring out how to divide retirement accounts as well as how to divide the assets they have accrued over the years can be challenging and scary.
Resisting divorce
The way spouses resist divorce comes in many forms. Some of these include:
- Emotional manipulation such as raging, screaming or even threatening suicide
- Refusing to talk about the divorce or look at any documents
- Falsely agreeing to the divorce, then simply not complying with the required steps
- Being cooperative while they believe the other spouse will still change their mind but then becoming aggressive when they realize it will not happen
In the end, most reluctant spouses will accept that divorce is inevitable. However, even if they do not, the divorce will usually go through if one of the spouses is sure that they want it.