Teacher clings to happiness with stroke-hit husband

Worried that her sick husband's property would be taken by his mistress after the divorce, the middle-aged female teacher tried to hold on to her happiness.

In mid-August, the Hanoi People's Court considered Ms. Lan's appeal in the divorce case with Mr. Phan after 32 years of marriage. Ms. Lan did not agree with the first instance court on the division of assets after accepting the divorce.

Mr. Phan, who was in poor health after a stroke, was escorted to court by his “second wife.” Meanwhile, Mrs. Lan was “accompanied” by her husband’s relatives. The benches for the two litigants were not long, but there was a large distance between them because he had not once looked at his wife since the trial began. His “second wife” sat in the back row to watch the interrogation.

More than 30 years ago, the young teacher Lan married Mr. Phan. Their happiness was nurtured by both their families. The teacher gave birth to two lovely sons. Lan also won the affection of her husband's family because she was active, hard-working and knew how to take care of her family.

In addition to her teaching hours, Ms. Lan also does business. Her resourcefulness is rewarded with a high income, a stable family economy, and her children's education. After many years of hard work, when the children grew up, the couple saved a large sum of money to buy a car and a house.

Looking at the life of the teacher and her husband, the neighbors always admired. The husband's family was also proud of having a capable daughter-in-law. However, in 2012, the couple's feelings arose from disagreement, because Mrs. Lan discovered that Mr. Phan had a lover. The woman who interfered with her happiness was the one who often gave the family fruit.

In the same year 2012, Mr. Phan abandoned his wife and children, moved out to live with his lover, and separated from Ms. Lan. A few years later, Mr. Phan filed for divorce from his wife. At that time, because of anger, Ms. Lan signed the petition and went to the Son Tay town court together to resolve the divorce. The first instance court accepted the divorce because both parties agreed.

However, Ms. Lan later appealed the entire judgment, requesting to divide some additional common assets of the couple that the first instance court had not mentioned.

Appearing before the appeal court, Ms. Lan requested to add her objection to the divorce because she still had feelings for Mr. Phan. She said that in all those years of living together, the two of them had never argued. “All the conflicts started when he had a relationship with someone else,” she said, pointing to the woman sitting in the row below.

Ms. Lan accused Mr. Phan of neglecting and not caring for his wife and children because he had a son with his mistress. However, she said she was willing to forgive her husband for his mistakes in order to mend their relationship and take care of him. “A few days before this trial, I filed an urgent petition asking the court to keep my happiness,” she said, and claimed that her husband forced her to divorce.

Not long after the first-instance trial, her husband suffered a stroke, and she and her children wanted to take good care of him. Above all, she feared that if the court granted their divorce, the “rival” would monopolize their property and kick Mr. Phan out. “If that happened, it would be too painful,” the wife said.

Speaking with difficulty but clearly audible, Mr. Phan affirmed that until now, his wife and he could not see each other because their relationship had ended. For many years, they did not visit each other on death anniversaries or Tet. He also accused his wife and children of being “ungrateful” because for more than a year, after the accident, they did not visit once. Even when his eldest son got married, he was not informed… He requested the court to accept the divorce judgment issued by the first instance court.

After nearly 3 hours of questioning and consideration, the appellate court upheld the decisions of the first instance court, agreeing to let Mr. Phan divorce his wife.

*Character names have been changed

According to VNE