Why would a spouse not get a divorce despite having legal reason to do so?

Loyalty. Religious beliefs. Emotional attachment or co-dependency. Savior complex. Financial concerns. Not wanting to be alone, or starting over.

Love. Fear. Depression. Cultural constraints. Lack of support. Deciding the relationship is “worth it”.

If they’re already separated and it’s just the paperwork left to do: It can just be inertia, bureaucracy & paperwork avoidance, apathy, annoyance, busy-ness, etc.

Health insurance coverage.

BTW…you don’t have to have a “legal reason” to get divorced any more. I think that went away in the 60s.
You can just say “I’m done!”

I think most people here know my marriage almost broke a few years ago. He’s not the person I married but it’s not all by his choice. Some medical issues change a person, their behavior and personality. I choose to support him and care for him in his time of need, as he has done for me.

Tax or legal reasons.
Child rearing.

Out of spite. He can’t get married again until she releases him from THEIR marriage bonds!!! As the spouse, she can still get everything IF he dies first. She might still LOVE him!!! She might know that it bugs the crap out of him & it’s her ONLY way of getting back at him.

Pretty sure a judge can declare a divorce under those circumstances @LadyMarissa.

@KNOWITALL I had a lady friend who told me the reason she did not divorce her husband in their early 50s, when he had brain trauma and was disabled all wheelchair bound…was she knew that if it was her who was in the wheelchair her husband would never have divorced her.

@mazinger88 Yes, I get that. Is she religious?

Plus, being married she has the right to make his medical decisions.

@Dutchess_III

Why would a spouse not get a divorce despite having legal reason to do so?

As asked. Thanks.

I answered “as asked”. OP didn’t ask what a Judge could do, so I didn’t consider that aspect. Others had covered many other reasons for the spouse, so I tried to choose some not yet addressed.

Wanting to get a divorce is legal reason in no-fault states. Most states that require grounds require little more than total breakdown of the marriage and irreconcilable differences.