History Main / FootDraggingDivorcee

* In strict Orthodox Jewish law, a divorce must be obtained through the husband giving the wife a piece of paper called a "gett" in order for the divorce to be recognized by the Jewish community. Some husbands refuse to give their wives a "gett" because they can use it as leverage over them. NPR [[http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/516/stuck-in-the-middle ran a story]] on it, because so many "chained wives" have hired people to blackmail or threaten their husbands into divorcing them that a couple of New York rabbis actually made a living doing just that. Israeli law even allows throwing the husband in jail for refusing the divorce. The film ''Film/GettTheTrialOfVivianeAmsalem'' is all about this issue in UsefulNotes/{{Israel}}.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* In ''Film/{{Twister}}'', Bill Harding is only there in tornado-alley at the time because he came there to badger his wife Jo into finally signing the divorce papers. Subverted in that they [[DivorceIsTemporary wind up back together]] and never do get the papers signed.

* The John Wayne movie ''Film/McLintock'' has GW [=McLintock=]'s estranged wife come back into town to demand a divorce, which he will not do because he enjoys making her miserable and knows deep down she doesn't really hate him.
* In ''The Don's Analyst'' the protagonist falls in love with the estranged wife of one of the Don's sons, who despite no longer loving her or living together and constantly cheating on her, refuses to grant her a divorce because of his macho code. [[spoiler: By the end of the movie, the protagonist has won the family around enough with the Power of Therapy that the son finally agrees to the divorce so she will be free to marry the shrink.]]
* In ''Film/SanAndreas'', Ray receives divorce paperwork in the mail shortly before he's called down to the dam collapse in Nevada. He "just happens" to neglect to sign them before leaving.
* ''Film/EatPrayLove'': Liz Gilbert decides to divorce Steven, her husband of eight years, feeling that their marriage is getting stale, even though Steven clearly does not want to.

* The character who helps the protagonist in ''Lucky You'' has long since split up with his wife, and keeps mailing divorce papers, which she won't sign. The protagonist suggests that she (the wife) is refusing because of a lack of control: she wants to be the divorc''er'', not the divorc''ee''.

* A plot point in ''Series/BreakingBad''. Skyler starts the divorce process against Walt due to his drug dealing, and threatens to call the police on him if he doesn't sign the papers. However, he obstinately refuses, even going as far as to break back into the house she kicked him out of (which the cops can't arrest him for because it's his own property, he didn't threaten her, and she doesn't have a restraining order). She eventually relents and agrees to stay married so she won't be forced to testify against him if he's caught.

* On ''Series/{{Bones}}'', Angela's husband that she didn't even remember marrying appears and says he has built a house for her. He won't grant her an annulment/divorce so she can marry Hodgins, but by the end of the episode he relents.
* In ''Series/{{House}}'', Chase drags his feet regarding the paperwork after Cameron divorces him. It came up in "Lockdown".

* Rita's first husband, Paul, in ''Series/{{Dexter}}'' initially refuses to sign the paperwork, despite the fact that she had him sent to prison for domestic abuse. She later gets him to finalize the divorce, threatening to have his visitation rights to his children revoked if he doesn't sign.
* On the ''Series/{{Angel}}'' episode "[[Recap/AngelS01E07BachelorParty Bachelor Party]]", Doyle's wife shows up with her new fiancé so that she can finalize their divorce. Doyle is naturally mopey, since the only reason she left him was because he found out he was half-demon. [[spoiler:Except that it turns out the new guy is ''also'' a demon, forcing Doyle to confront the fact that no, it was his own angsty reaction to the news that drove her away]]. And then it's inverted as Doyle finally comes around to blessing the new union, only for Harry's fiancee to try to eat his brains.

* In ''{{Series/Eureka}}'' Nathan is still in love with his separated wife Allison and refuses to grant her a divorce. Finally relenting is part of what causes her to realize she wants to get back together with him.
* Implied on ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'', when a bedridden Stabler tells Benson that his wife began divorce proceedings two weeks ago and he's just not gotten around to signing the paperwork.
** He eventually does sign the papers in "Burned", but only after watching another divorcing couple completely destroy each other in a vindictive "he said, she said" rape investigation.

* ''Series/OneLifeToLive'''s Clint refuses to sign his and Viki's divorce papers, wanting to fight for their marriage. She tells him that it's pointless and warns him that she can get it done even without his signature, and she eventually does.
* ''Series/AsTheWorldTurns'''s Julia signs hers and Jack's divorce papers. . .then commits herself to a mental hospital, thus invalidating her actions, as they were supposedly done when she was mentally unfit. The real kicker is that she doesn't even want Jack, she's just bitter and angry about him dumping her for Carly and is determined to make things difficult for them as payback.
* On ''Series/{{Lucifer}}'', Reese Getty is this, because he's convinced that he can salvage the marriage. His wife, Linda, is all too aware of his deeper issues and won't put the foot down for fear of forcing him into a breakdown, which he interprets as a sign of her still having feelings for him. And then there's his conviction that the man she's sleeping with is actually the Devil... [[spoiler: It's largely a moot point for Linda, as Reese is dead and thus out of the picture, but the guilt and inability to let go provides him with constant torture in Hell.]]
* ''Series/ForLife'': Marie presents Aaron with divorce papers after he's been in prison for a number of years. He does not sign them until Marie's father (unbeknownst to her) visits Aaron in prison and implores him to let Marie live her life. (Marie ends up reconsidering and does not file the papers after all.)
* On ''Series/ResidentAlien'', Harry Vanderspeigle was this to his wife, Isabelle, so naturally she's more than a little thrown off when the [[HughMann alien]] Harry Vanderspeigle signs the divorce papers the second that she asks.
* ''Series/ScenesFromAMarriage2021'': Jonathan spends much of episode 4 trying to get Mira to sign the divorce papers. Ironically, as he points out, she was the one who wanted the divorce to begin with, but losing her job and getting dumped by Poli has made her question her decision.
* ''Series/{{Frasier}}'': After Niles and Maris finally separate for good [[WomanScorned she]] proceeds to drag their divorce proceedings out for over a ''year'' in an attempt to ruin Niles financially. The divorce is finally settled after Roz sets Niles up with a brilliant lawyer who gets Maris and her team to stop stalling and finalise.

* ''Theatre/{{Six}}'': Like her real-life counterpart, Catherine of Aragon refuses to accept a divorce from her husband, {{UsefulNotes/Henry VIII}} due to her status as a devout Catholic, and the fact that she has done nothing wrong that would warrant being treated so poorly.
* {{Theatre/Goodbye Charles}} plays this for laughs, but is also surprisingly poignant: a woman explains to her soon-to-be-ex-husband that she ''ate'' their divorce papers because she cannot accept losing him.

* In ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'', Miyuki and Kei Shirogane's father is physically and emotionally separated from his wife, but they are not formally divorced yet. He believes that it was his fault that his wife left the home, and still ppines for her in the hopes that they may one day come back together again.

* In ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'', Miyuki ans Kei Shirogane's father is physically and emotionally separated from his wife, but they are not formally divorced yet. He believes that it was his fault that his wife left the home, and still ppines for her in the hopes that they may one day come back together again.

Couples in fiction who get divorced generally do so in only two ways. Either they hate each other so much as to fight viciously in court over [[DivorceAssetsConflict every piece of property]] and [[SolomonDivorce terms of child custody]], with each party hiring an AmoralAttorney who is willing to use any dirty tactics, or else it's a unilateral decision by one party which the other spouse, still in love with their partner, can't quite bring himself (and it usually ''is'' the husband, which statistically is TruthInTelevision more often than not) to conclude the divorce. The divorce papers will lie conspicuously on the foot-dragger's desk, still sealed in their manila envelope, and they will use any [[ObstructiveBureaucrat administrative slowdown]] they can to drag it out till the very end of the deadline for submission. The would-be ex who wants the divorce will pester them to get it done, often because they're planning to marry someone else and the wedding date is fast approaching.

Couples in fiction who get divorced generally do so in only two ways. Either they hate each other so much as to fight viciously over [[DivorceAssetsConflict every piece of property]] and [[SolomonDivorce terms of child custody]], or else it's a unilateral decision which the other spouse, still in love with their partner, can't quite bring himself (and it usually ''is'' the husband, which statistically is TruthInTelevision more often than not) to conclude. The divorce papers will lie conspicuously on the foot-dragger's desk, still sealed in their manila envelope, until the very end of the deadline for submission. The would-be ex will pester them to get it done, often because they're planning to marry someone else and the wedding date is fast approaching.