[Dog Gone]

The law doesn't work that way. There was no way to file a divorce on Terri's behalf, and no way to make Michael file for divorce.

Perhaps that will change in the future, but only if state legislatures carefully craft legislation to make it happen. And it would have to be very carefully drafted in order to avoid unintended consequences in a different factual situation.

[muawiyah]

When John Dillinger went to the state reformatory his wife was given the choice of accepting or rejecting an automatic divorce.

She accepted.

These sort of laws have been around for a very long time ~ no reason they can't be written to deal with these cases where the victim is beneficiary of a very large malpractice award.

[supercat]

The law doesn't work that way. There was no way to file a divorce on Terri's behalf, and no way to make Michael file for divorce. Perhaps that will change in the future, but only if state legislatures carefully craft legislation to make it happen. And it would have to be very carefully drafted in order to avoid unintended consequences in a different factual situation.

If Terri had had an honest guardian, she would have gotten a divorce (since Florida law does allow a guardian to file for divorce on behalf of an incapacitated ward). And if she'd had an honest judge, she would have gotten an honest guardian.

But regardless of the legal issue of 'marriage', I say that the deliberate destruction of a wife's wedding rings is not the act of a loving husband.