Could excessive snoring be grounds for a divorce? Recent news out of Israel has many people dreaming about a peaceful night’s sleep after a court ruled on whether, if left untreated, snoring could lead to financial liability and a divorce.
Sleep Divorce
A study conducted amongst 2,000 married couples in the United Kingdom found that approximately 12% of the couples cited that snoring was one of the problems that contributed to the downfall of their relationship. About 18% revealed that they regularly argued about snoring, while 30% admitted that they had to resort to sleeping in separate rooms.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea is a pervasive sleep disorder that affects a significant portion of the population, with approximately 11% of women and 26% of men in America suffering from it..
A couple in Israel saw that their marriage deteriorated amid mutual accusations, leading to divorce with an agreement to settle the other issue later. During the divorce trial, the wife accused the husband of “excessive snoring.”
While the husband admitted the issue, he countered, “When I snored, she’d scream, get angry, hit the wall, curse and order me to go to the child’s room, even withholding intimacy.”
The wife sought full financial payment plus additional compensation, while the husband argued her demands caused the split.
Florida No Fault Divorce
The official term for divorce in Florida is “dissolution of marriage”, and you don’t need fault as a ground for divorce. Florida abolished fault as a ground for divorce. Interestingly, given the recent attack on no-fault divorce, it was former Governor Ronald Reagan of California who signed the nation’s first no-fault divorce bill.
The no fault divorce law eliminated the need for couples to fabricate spousal wrongdoing in pursuit of a divorce; indeed, one likely reason for Reagan’s decision to sign the bill was that his first wife, Jane Wyman, had unfairly accused him of “mental cruelty” to obtain a divorce in 1948.
I’ve written about no-fault divorce issues before. The no-fault concept in Florida means you no longer have to prove a reason for the divorce, like your husband’s snoring and untreated sleep apnea. Instead, you just need to state under oath that your marriage is “irretrievably broken.”
Before the no-fault divorce era, people who wanted to get divorce either had to reach agreement in advance with the other spouse that the marriage was over or throw mud at each other and prove wrongdoing like adultery or abuse.
No-fault laws were the result of trying to change the way divorces played out in court. No fault laws have reduced the number of feuding couples who felt the need to resort to distorted facts, lies, and the need to focus the trial on who did what to whom.
A Snoozer of a Decision
Back in the Holy Land, a court deliberated extensively on whether a husband’s snoring justifies divorce and alimony payments. After a lengthy review, a three-judge panel ruled that the husband could have addressed his snoring but failed to do so.
The court ordered him to pay 130,000 shekels (about $35,000) as compensation as demanded by his wife. After consulting historical rulings and modern medical insights, the judges wrote:
“We face a unique case where both husband and wife agree he snores during sleep, driving her to frustration and anger. His snoring led her to leave the bedroom, halt intimacy and fuel mutual resentment, insults and curses.”
They noted that snoring is treatable through medical consultation, devices, therapies or diet adjustments. Since the husband recognized his snoring deeply irritated his wife, he should have sought treatment for an admitted issue.
“Per the Jewish sages, if a person can change and doesn’t, he is deemed to have willfully driven his wife away, obligating him to pay. His snoring was solvable and his failure to act makes him liable for the full ketubah and supplement.”
The three judges diverged on the compensation amount. One judge advocated for the full 260,000 shekels ($70,000), while the two other judges argued the wife’s behavior also contributed to the rift, proposing 130,000 shekels. The majority upheld the lower sum in the final ruling.
The article is here.