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Many spouses choose a no-fault divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. In the US, for example, 31% of couples who end their marriages report that incompatibility is the main factor. But the leading causes are infidelity (or extramarital affairs) with 34% and lack of family support with 43%. And how people and up in these (and other) categories can be as diverse as the individual themselves. So when Redditt user SpicyNovel asked everyone on the platform to share the most petty reason they've heard someone has gotten a divorce, they received plenty of replies.
Image credits: SpicyNovel
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
I volunteer at an animal shelter. A couple came in one day and got into a huge argument over one of our cats. She had a temporary shelter name on the door: Tinkerbell. The woman thought it was an adorable name and just perfect for the kitty. The husband absolutely refused to have anything to do with the name Tinkerbell and insisted that if they did adopt the cat, they'd have to change her name.
There followed about 15 minutes of off and on bickering, with her insisting that this cat was the embodiment of Tinkerbell and the husband peppering his rebuttal with suggestions like Pickles and Wombat. I explained that the cat had only had the name for a month and pointed out that most people change their cat's name when they adopt.
But she said that changing an animal's name was cruel and anyway, her cat was absolutely a Tinkerbell. Then she persisted in speaking to the poor creature in that awful baby-talk people use when confronted with adorable animals. I thought she was pretty annoying. Apparently her husband thought so too because after a few more minutes of her cooing at poor Tinkerbell, the husband abruptly said, "I don't want a pet named Tinkerbell. In fact, I don't want a pet at all. I want a divorce." And then he walked off.
We reassured Tinkerbell that she was not responsible for their divorce and adopted her out only a few hours later to a lovely couple who named her Daisy.
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#2
"I fell out of love with you after your dad died. I know you were grieving, but I had needs too!"
My ex wife everyone. Her excuse for cheating and immediately moving in with the other guy.
#3
She got fat, and he filed saying he “no longer felt attracted to her.” Funny thing is that after she gave him the divorce, she worked out, got her smoking hot body again and here he comes crawling back like the worm he is. Of course she told him to p**s off, and she wound up dating her personal trainer for three years now lol.
#4
My ex became a gym bro after getting married. Two years into it he asked for a divorce because he was upset I did not know how much weight he was lifting in the leg press machine. Some months before he had "banned me" from going with him to the gym because I did not match his vibe, so when I returned I was kind of doing my thing and my own routine, but not focusing fully on him was apparently the wrong move.
So well, that. Narcissist type. Obviously he had a new girl immediately after, but the reason he gave me about the weight was just so petty.
Sue Denham 8 months ago
Lucky escape for OP. Imagine how much worse this would have got with time.
#5
I have a cousin who has been married 4 times for a year and a half collectively. The most recent divorce happened after a month when she told him he needed to cut the grass since it was tall. He got all pissed off and called it quits. Their preacher went to talk to him and told him “ well she’s right. The grass is getting tall. You do need to cut it.” My cousins response dead a*s was “ I know that but ain’t no woman gonna tell me what to do!”.
#6
Someone I currently work with used to work in an oncology department where one of the doctors divorced his wife for getting cancer. Everyone in the department basically hated him. M I recall my colleague saying that new hires were all informed of what he’d done, so everyone could be on the same page of knowing he was a terrible person. From what I hear, his wife beat the cancer and I think the guy eventually changed hospitals he worked at.
#7
My ex told me his grandmother was into astrology and psychic readings when she was younger (I don't know about her interest in her later years). Apparently, she got a reading that said her 3rd marriage would be the one that lasted, so she married and divorced quickly twice to get to the 3rd guy. They DID last until she passed, so maybe she was onto something, but maybe she was in too deep at that point and would have stayed just to prove a point. I always found it pretty wild.
badmotorfinger 8 months ago
I feel bad for those fist two fellas. "Yay, I'm in love so happy..."
#8
My friend claims his wife divorced him for no reason and that he did nothing to deserve this.
The wife said he spent 92% of their time together with his face in his phone. I can corroborate this because that's the same reason I stopped hanging out with him. I'd be telling a story and I'd look over to him and he'd be typing away on his phone, not listening to a damn thing I'm saying.
Sergio Bicerra 8 months ago
"But if that bothered so much, why didn't you send me a mail and told me?"
#9
Grandma sued her 2nd husband for a divorce because he got me a puppy for my 7th birthday (she felt the puppy outshined her present to me).
#10
My ex wife left me a couple weeks after I medically discharged from the military because she "wanted to be with someone who could take care of her" and ended up getting with another guy in the military. Just chasing benefits.
#11
I’m a divorce attorney. Had a client whose wife filed for divorce because she didn’t get along with his sister ONE TIME. They had one disagreement. Seriously. That was it. He didn’t stick up for his wife, she got mad, and filed for divorce. She said on the stand that they had a great marriage, he was a good father, but that one incident was too much. The judge told them “this is the dumbest reason I’ve ever seen anyone get divorced.” And he’d been a judge for 20+ years.
#12
I knew this couple ( the guy was three years younger than me and we went to school together as kids) where the husband was a farmer and he put his wife through school and she got her degrees ( she started off as a nurse and worked her way up) and became a PA. Once she started working at a doctor’s office, she thought she was too smart for her dumb farmer husband and divorced him because he wasn’t educated and he wasn’t up to her level of intelligence.
#13
My ex-wife was the most negative, self-absorbed human I’ve ever met. She didn’t start out that way I wouldn’t have married her if she had been that way from the beginning. Everything had to be her way. When I started saying NO to her then she filed for divorce.
I don’t know how it is in all states, obviously, but in our state, the person that filed has to get on the stand and state the reason they want/need the divorce. She got on the stand and the judge asked her why she was filing for divorce. She said, “Well, we’re just two different people.” The judge responded, “You’re going to have to do much better than that.” She thought for few seconds and said, “We don’t see eye to eye. I see things as black and white, and he sees things as gray.”
The judge had a dumbfounded look on his face. He looked at me with what appeared to be a look of pity and excused her from the stand. He signed our papers.
#14
A friend of mine had a seizure during the night. Ended up in the ICU for a couple of days then was on a LOA for 90 days. The day after he found out that he was going to need to take an LOA his wife went and filed for divorce, stating that without his regular level of income he was "useless" to her.
#15
A family friend: “Because I married the wrong brother”.
2 years later she married the older brother and they’ve been happily married for the last 20 years and have a kid together.
#16
Dad says, "Honey - I want a divorce!"
Wife says, "Wow! Well. S**t. Hey, Junior? Who do you want to live with -- your father, or me?"
Junior: "I want to live with daddy!"
Dad says, "Aw, s**t! I don't want to get divorced!".
#17
I wish I was kidding but a girl I knew from my track team, initiated the divorce because his husband bought an Android phone. Her reasoning was that his old account was synced on their shared devices so she could see what he was up to, but now with android, he must be hiding something. Good thing they were only married for less than 6 months.
#18
My mom divorced my step dad because he inherited 15k from his mother who died and used it on his own vehicle. He payed all the bills for her, she gets social secuirty and that’s “hers”. She’s a horrible person who only cares about money.
#19
My uncle divorced his 6th wife because he wanted remarry his first wife.
Natasha Arruda 8 months ago
I'm only on the second picture and already I'm noticing that these all seem to be with a spouse beyond the original one. Lol.
#20
My dad's second wife divorced him because we pointed out she was racist and she didn't like it. My wife and kids are black. She couldn't muster up a sorry so she mustered up divorce papers.
#21
I think anytime some one divorces cause the other person gets cancer takes the cake.
3 Otters 🦦 8 months ago
Any illness, or child with an illness and a spouse leaves. Sorry no, I didn’t sign up to be a caring responsible adult.
#22
My ex-husband said he wanted a divorce because I didn’t do enough dishes. I told him it may have something more to do with the fact that every time he saw a pregnant woman, he would cry, and we were running out of acceptable options to have kids. Then he told me he cheated on me with a woman ~13 years his junior who lived halfway across the world, while I was visiting my parents, getting some measure of comfort that he could not provide after our dog died and I did everything to take care of him and logistics.
I don’t think it was the dishes.
#23
My grandma divorced her 5th husband because he wouldn't let her remodel their kitchen. I didn't like him but it was a dumb reason to divorce in my opinion.
#24
I hope my friend doesn’t mind me sharing this story but her husband divorced her after 3 months because she wasn’t cuddling or affectionate enough for him.. mind you this was her first marriage let alone first relationship and this was his 3rd marriage.
They both worked full time but he worked 2hrs away and would sometimes have to stay the night at work because it was more convenient for him all around. But when he got home he expected food, sex and cuddles. Never brought this up to her until the day he said it was over.
Duvet Woman 8 months ago
I'm pretty sure he was having an affair. The food, sex and cuddles issues come up when you've met someone new and you're in your "honeymoon" period so nothing is too much trouble.
#25
Not divorce but apparently my brother’s wife’s sister called off her wedding because New Kids On The Block were doing a reunion tour and she decided she’d rather go to the concert than get married.
#26
(My opinion it's petty but) when someone find out their SO was not a virgin when they got married.
#27
My MIL and her second husband: they both sell 2nd hand books, they had a large hall where they kept the books, divided by a middle path. There had fallen a book out of a box and laid in the middle on the path. They had such a fight about whose book it was, they divorced over it. The book was worth 4 dollars and they both made 150k+ per year.
Edit:
Damn this comment blew up, to answer the most asked questions:
1. No, i don't know who ended up with the book
2. It was a children's book about a bear
3. Yes she makes a lot of money with it. They had deals with 2nd hand shops, companies who clean out houses of people that passed etc that they could go through their books and buy them for a few bucks per book. Books can be very expensive if you know what to look for, science, theology of philosophy books can sometimes go for 200 or 300 bucks, even a 1000 for special editions etc. So they sell them online on a similar website as Amazon.
#28
Knew a guy whose wife filed for divorce the day he applied for military retirement. Apparently she didn't want to leave the lifestyle. He ended up getting out of the military after 18 years with no retirement just to spite her so she wouldn't get half his retirement.
Cecilia Herrera 8 months ago
This is certainly a case of, "cutting off your nose to spite your face."
#29
“He’s just not outgoing enough at parties”
That’s the best answer my ex-wife could come up with when the marriage counselor asked her why she didn’t love me anymore. I just sat there shaking my head.
#30
My now ex wife cited, one of the many petty reasons she divorced me was because I didn't "mow straight lines" when mowing the grass.. of course the majority of the time it was due to one of our son's asleep on my lap while on the riding mower..
#31
A friend got divorced by his wife of three months. When the wife was asked what was wrong, she said that it was nothing, he just snored loudly.
In the worst case, they could have had separate bedrooms.
Lady Perkele 8 months ago
No... it doesn't work, I could hear my ex snoring from the living room, terrace, kitchen... impossible to rest
#32
My five time divorced uncle broke things off with his 4th wife because her kids from a previous marriage kept eating the Twinkees that he bought to pack in his lunches.
#33
My brother’s ex wife only married him to prove a point to her parents that she could settle down with someone and raise a family and stop partying all the time. She divorced him after having a kid with him and making him get a vasectomy because she never loved him in the first place and was miserable.
#34
Had a buddy whose wife divorced him because he didn't appreciate her love for rom-coms. Apparently, not crying at "The Notebook" is a deal-breaker for some. Crazy, right?
#35
The husband kept putting wet/used towel on their bed. After several complaints and no changes, the wife got fed up and filed for a divorce.
#37
I had a friend divorce one of her 7 husbands because he booted her dog off the bed.
Natasha Arruda 8 months ago (edited)
Of all of these, this one I at least understand. Edit: Forgot the /j, I'm not against boundaries for pets, as long as the "booting" isn't actual abuse, which according to the original post, it wasn't, he just removed them gently from the bed.
#38
They found out their husband was bi. Not cheating, mind you. Just that he found men attractive.
#39
Wife divorced husband because he got her a chainsaw for Christmas.
#40
A friend's parents went through a divorce and then ... just kept going like the divorce never happened and are still together to this day.
Don't know what the reason was, but it must have been petty.
#41
My ex sat me down on a Saturday, after 13 years together, to let me know he was leaving me because he was bored.
Panda Kicki 8 months ago
That is a more normal reason. Many people divorce without hating the spouse, just lacking the spark in the relationship.
#42
They may not have gotten divorced because of it, but I know of a couple that fought over who got the canned fruit at their divorce trial.
#43
Julius Caesar got a divorce because of rumors his wife had an affair. He publicly said she didn't do it, but divorced her anyway "because the wife of Caesar must be above suspicion".
#44
Idk if you could really say it's petty, because it's due to cheating, but the situation was kind of bizarre to me.
I had these neighbors, husband and wife, lived across the street from me for a long time. They were easily in their 70s, maybe a little older, idk, never asked their ages. Anyway, eventually, I noticed that the wife wasn't outside with him anymore when he'd sit on the porch. I asked about her one day and he told me that she cheated on him with a guy in his 20s and left to be with him. 50 year marriage down the drain. I guess maybe she wanted someone who was the same age as her and her husband were when they first got married.
#46
Growing up we had a family friend who was in a marriage we knew wouldn’t last, his wife was very ‘posh’ while he was a tradesman. That wasn’t the petty one though. After they divorced, he met and married a really sweet woman who had grown up in a religious group, I don’t know which, but they had rules like women could never cut their hair and she had never watched tv before she was with him. Basically he saved her from this religion. Because of her background, she’d never worked and he husband never asked her to, he was happy to provide for her.
They ended up having a kid together, then another mum who she befriended told her she’d get more money if she divorced him and went after child support. So she did. So now he never sees his kid, and his son from his first marriage has been turned against him by his first wife. He still has a great relationship with his daughter from the first marriage at least.
#47
My former boss ended her engagement because he kept dropping his underwear on the floor and leaving them.
She was fit to be tied over it. Swore he kept his end up in every other way, but this.
Cecilia Herrera 8 months ago
I once visited a friend at her house. There were several sets of HIS underwear on the floor. As her guest, I thought, "Yuck." I can see this issue being a "deal breaker."
#48
They got divorced over who should clean the cat's thing.
Natasha Arruda 8 months ago
Thing? His genitals? Or cat litter? A medical wound that needed tending?
#49
My friend divorced her husband because he tried to surprise her with a romantic gesture and she tough that he was cheating on her...
#50
My step sisters MIL divorced her husband over popcorn twists.
Dread Pirate Roberts 8 months ago
Looks loke they're gonna leave us hanging with this one 😂
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What do you think ?
Aroace tiger (she/they/he) 8 months ago
I wonder how many of these were excuses or the straw to break the camels back
Sleepy Panda 8 months ago
The entries aren't displaying properly on iPhone, I follow the link to reddit and it keeps crashing your site. It happens on any post like this.
Mary Guerinot 8 months ago
Sleepy Panda - When I open a post on Firefox and scroll down to read the post, a box appears in the middle of the page with other stories and ads. I've tried over and over to get rid of the box, but have not been able to. In order to read the post, I have to copy the entire page and paste it into a Word document. However, in Word, I'm unable to post comments or if it has more posts than the original, I'm unable to get the rest of them. I've written to Bored Panda numerous times, but they never respond or fix it. Even though I prefer Firefox, I've started opening the posts in Chrome.
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kissmychakram 8 months ago
Conspicuously absent "mind my own effing business!"
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EmBree 8 months ago
Not petty but, two of our female neighbors filed for divorce because they had fallen in love with each other's husbands. They then got married and the men moved to the new wife's house. We thought it would never work but they have been happy in their marriages for over 20 years now.
Sahil Islam 8 months ago
Ngl some of these needed to be explained longer. They basically had a story but we only got the short description
FreeTheUnicorn 8 months ago
If the reason to split is petty, the relationship wasn't strong enough to be worth saving. If there was a time to intervene would have been before marriage, but really adults should manage their own business.
shankShaw deReemer 8 months ago
Again...only the first 8-10 words show up. This is the third or fourth time this has happened with mine in the last week or see. WTF?
Mammie 8 months ago
Exactly. Evidently the other people got to read the whole article but since about Friday I've noticed many things are like this. One line of text only. They need to fix something.
Load More Replies...
Rose the Cook 8 months ago
Can't help but wonder what country most of these are from. If a place where you need a reason judges would laugh at most of them. However if like Australia where the only required ground is a years separation these are more likely the last straw that caused the separation.
FreeTheUnicorn 8 months ago
Still ridiculous that it takes a year. It's a legal contract, you can enter in a day, why should the state require anything longer than it takes to split assets? I assume business arrangements don't have the same one year requirement. It's even better for the stare to have 2 filing separately for taxes, so there's no benefit to making adults wait.
Load More Replies... 
Max 8 months ago
Obviously many of these are ridiculous, but it always amuses me that topics like this (often taken from reddit threads) have two extremes. People will genuinely come on for basic marriage/relationship advice and the immediate response is "LEAVE HIM/HER" as if there is no room for resolution. Then it's these extreme reasons for divorce. Divorce can be expensive and time consuming and mentally draining. I'm skeptical all of these are stand alone reasons. If my spouse didn't pick up wet towels, maybe I just acknowledge the shortcoming and do it myself. Anyone who enters marriage without expectations of comprising is in for a rude awakening. Also for some...how did you not know they were something terrible (ie racist)...are people not dating future spouses?!
Aroace tiger (she/they/he) 8 months ago
I wonder how many of these were excuses or the straw to break the camels back
Sleepy Panda 8 months ago
The entries aren't displaying properly on iPhone, I follow the link to reddit and it keeps crashing your site. It happens on any post like this.
Mary Guerinot 8 months ago
Sleepy Panda - When I open a post on Firefox and scroll down to read the post, a box appears in the middle of the page with other stories and ads. I've tried over and over to get rid of the box, but have not been able to. In order to read the post, I have to copy the entire page and paste it into a Word document. However, in Word, I'm unable to post comments or if it has more posts than the original, I'm unable to get the rest of them. I've written to Bored Panda numerous times, but they never respond or fix it. Even though I prefer Firefox, I've started opening the posts in Chrome.
Load More Replies... kissmychakram 8 months ago
Conspicuously absent "mind my own effing business!"
Load More Replies... EmBree 8 months ago
Not petty but, two of our female neighbors filed for divorce because they had fallen in love with each other's husbands. They then got married and the men moved to the new wife's house. We thought it would never work but they have been happy in their marriages for over 20 years now.
Sahil Islam 8 months ago
Ngl some of these needed to be explained longer. They basically had a story but we only got the short description
FreeTheUnicorn 8 months ago
If the reason to split is petty, the relationship wasn't strong enough to be worth saving. If there was a time to intervene would have been before marriage, but really adults should manage their own business.
shankShaw deReemer 8 months ago
Again...only the first 8-10 words show up. This is the third or fourth time this has happened with mine in the last week or see. WTF?
Mammie 8 months ago
Exactly. Evidently the other people got to read the whole article but since about Friday I've noticed many things are like this. One line of text only. They need to fix something.
Load More Replies... Rose the Cook 8 months ago
Can't help but wonder what country most of these are from. If a place where you need a reason judges would laugh at most of them. However if like Australia where the only required ground is a years separation these are more likely the last straw that caused the separation.
FreeTheUnicorn 8 months ago
Still ridiculous that it takes a year. It's a legal contract, you can enter in a day, why should the state require anything longer than it takes to split assets? I assume business arrangements don't have the same one year requirement. It's even better for the stare to have 2 filing separately for taxes, so there's no benefit to making adults wait.
Load More Replies... Max 8 months ago
Obviously many of these are ridiculous, but it always amuses me that topics like this (often taken from reddit threads) have two extremes. People will genuinely come on for basic marriage/relationship advice and the immediate response is "LEAVE HIM/HER" as if there is no room for resolution. Then it's these extreme reasons for divorce. Divorce can be expensive and time consuming and mentally draining. I'm skeptical all of these are stand alone reasons. If my spouse didn't pick up wet towels, maybe I just acknowledge the shortcoming and do it myself. Anyone who enters marriage without expectations of comprising is in for a rude awakening. Also for some...how did you not know they were something terrible (ie racist)...are people not dating future spouses?!
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