Unusual California Divorce Claim Blames Marriage on Cambodian Dictator!
In one of the more stranger divorce cases in a long time, a California judge ruled against a man’s claims that his marriage was forced upon him by a brutal Cambodian dictator.
A Recordnet.com story detailed how Saroeun Sok was married to his wife Sokhanary Ouch in Cambodia in 1978 during the communist regime of Pol Pot, who systematically forced couples to marry with the goal of weakening powerful family structures. Despite having three children with his wife and living with her for more than 25 years, Sok claimed that the marriage was against his intentions. Ouch disagreed with this claim and said that the couple had a romantic courtship which included Sok writing her love letters and choosing her ahead of other girls interested in him.
San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Robin Appell called Sok’s claims “almost incomprehensible” and awarded Ouch $250,000 in spousal support and other payments.
Appell wrote that Sok used this false divorce claim to leave his wife “financially destitute.” Before quitting and returning to Cambodia, Sok was a physician at San Joaquin General Hospital and earned $190,000 annually. Ouch earns $8.50 an hour as a housekeeper. Ouch’s divorce lawyer Albert Ellis said in the story that Appell’s judgment will cover Sok’s retirement plan to make sure that his client receives the payments. We’ll keep you updated with any more developments with this strange divorce case.
