can i claim personal injury for the stress i am suffering in my divorce from my husband?

Question

I am getting divorced and the stress has caused me to have sleepless nights, time off work, anti depressents, etc. Can i claim from my ex?

Sorry I should have added this really isnt for me - its a hypothetical question after a night out! I am not married, and personally would not do this but it came up in conversation and i wasnt sure ...seriously all you that hate me, its just a hypothetical question!

Answer 1

Thats a rather selfish, uncaring attitude to adopt about some thing so serious as ending a marriage. Claiming money will do nothing for you, except alienate people around you. It takes two to tango, but if your partner doesn't dance well, thats no excuse to chop his feet of for spite, sorry, but the truth will out in the end. Just face up to the inevitable and make another life for yourself, think of it as a second chance to start your life again and plan it better this time. Good luck and happiness with your new life.

Answer 2

This is UK board so i will give a UK answer- in the UK it is highly unlikely that you would win such a case. Stress and sleepless nights are par for the course when going through a divorce- thousands of people are going through the same right now because a relationship falls apart- can you imagine what it would be like if we all tried to sue each other because divorce and relationship failure caused us stress??? I can tell you though that when its all over and the dust settles it will get better and you will feel much more like your old self.

Answer 3

Probably not but if you could it would be lovely! The best thing you could do is get the divorce over very quickly - don't over complicate it or it will drag out. It does seem to be overwhelming you so I think you need to get it in perspective. Lots of people feel very aggrieved during divorces - a lot of unfairness and lies get thrown about. The way to deal with it is to expect that it wont be very nice and put it in its rightful place. You need to concentrate on your future now so let a little future planning be part of your day - daydream and fantasize about how you are going to be in a years time. It will help get you through all this. Good luck.

Answer 4

I know very little about family law, but I know that in English law that would be a stretch. In general claims for personal injury you have to show that the other party owed you a duty of care, that this person breached the duty of care and that the resut of this was harm to yourself.

The problem I would suspect is twofold: firstly psychiatric harm is difficult to establish particularly if you have a pre-exisiting condition. Claims for psychiatric injury [which is really what this would fall under are not generally that successful in my country ..maybe in the States but not here in the UK and most case law supports that ].

Secondly if the reason for the break down of your marriage was, for example irreconcilable differences [involving both parties] then logically your husband could not be held as being responsible for the stress which you are experiencing as he could state that he is experiencing this as well. If the marriage broke down as a consequence of his infidelity then you could assert that his actions were the causative factor of your stress, etc.. but I would have to say what any court might possibly say "How did he owe you a duty of care" merely by being your husband? Within the union which is marriage both parties hold responsibilities towards each other not soley him towards yourself...

I personally have never come across any case law which supports a claim for damages against a husband for stress, etc which has arisen as a result of a divorce [maybe for assualt, harassment and that sort of thing]. Also you need to take into consideration that the illness which you are suffering from has to be a recognisable mental health/psychiatric difficulty such as depression, post traumatic stress disorder, etc [mere stress for the purposes of pursuing a claim would not really suffice....

In short, I would be very surprised if you were able to pursue such a claim becasue for policy reasons as well it would leave the floodgates wide open for everyone to become a vexatious litigant in terms of suing their spouses/ ex-spouses..

Answer 5

No I don't think so,just claim peace for yourself,my heart goes out because I know what it is like I am just getting over the same thing,but I decided that it is a big whole world there and I don't have time to dwell on pain from from something that I have no control of I say his loss get yourself together and live the rest of your life.......

Answer 6

Sorry Sarah, All that you are "hypothetically" receiving is self-inflicted. If you hadn't gotten a divorce you wouldn't be in this mess. Remember, you can always heal a broken marriage. People can change. It's worth it to try.

Answer 7

Jesus! Talk about political correctness gone wrong. For crying out loud if the marriage was that bad you should have divorced him long ago. At the end of the day it takes two to tango. Quit blaming your husband for your health problems, and get on with your life, I'm sure he's getting on with his....

Answer 8

not to sure about this one unless you can prove that your husband has gone out of his way to cause you stress and that the stress is not caused by the general burdens of divorce. You can send an enquiry in to these guys as they have quite a huge selection of lawyers and pretty good ones aswell

Answer 9

A hypothetical question about divorce? But not yours? Im very confused.

Answer 10

No because you didn't lose your job or took time off from work just go on with your life I'm devorced and I did't loose or quit taken time off when I got my devorce in 2007-july 25