A Cambodian couple who separated after 40 years of marriage may have taken things too literally when it came to splitting their assets:
A couple who separated after 40 years of marriage split their house in two -- literally.

A couple who separated after 40 years of marriage split their house in two -- literally.

The husband cut the house in two.

"It is the strangest thing I've ever seen," said May Titthara, who wrote about the case for The Phnom Penh Post, an English-language newspaper in the Cambodian capital. "People there never saw this happen in a divorce. It is very interesting for them."

The husband and wife had been living together in the house in a village in the Prey Veng province of southern Cambodia, roughly 50 miles (80 km) from the capital.

The couple would not talk to the newspaper, but the village chief told May Titthara that the husband was angry because his wife wouldn't tend to him when he was ill.

Last week, the husband and his friends moved his belongings to one side of the house -- and sawed and chiseled it off, said the reporter, who interviewed the village chief and neighbors.

The couple also divided their property into four sections: for themselves and their two children.

Because the couple side-stepped the provincial courts when they parted ways, their unusual resolution could pose a problem later, said Prak Phin, a lawyer for Legal Support for Child and Women in the province.

"This was a not a legal divorce. It never went to the court," he said. "If they have disagreements in the future, they will not have a legal (recourse)."

The man moved his part of the house to his parents' property, May Titthara said. He lives with his parents, while the wife continues to reside in her precariously perched, upright half.

一對柬埔寨夫婦在結束40年婚姻時可能太過教條，居然把他們的家產真的一分為二了。
A couple who separated after 40 years of marriage split their house in two -- literally.

一對夫婦結束其40年婚姻時把他們的家一劈為二---名副其實的“分家”

丈夫把房子一劈為二。

“這是我看到的最為奇特的事情，”為位于柬埔寨首都的英文報紙《金邊郵報》撰寫此報道的MAY TITTHARA說道，"那里的人從來沒看到過離婚會發生這樣的事情。對他們來說，這太有趣了。”

這對夫婦一起居住一個村莊的一所房子里，那里位于距首部大約50英里（80公里）的柬埔寨南部的波蘿勉省。

這對夫婦對記者保持沉默，不過，據那里的村長告訴MAY TITTHARA說，丈夫因為生病而他妻子不愿意照顧他，所以他很氣憤。

記者在采訪村長和鄰居們后獲知，上周，這位丈夫和他的朋友們把他的財產搬到了房子的一邊，然后用鋸子鋸，用鑿子鑿，把房子一分為二。

這對夫婦也把他們的財產分了四份： 他們兩人，還有他們的兩個孩子。

這個省為孩子和婦女提供法律幫助的律師PRAK PHIN說，因為這對夫婦分開的時候繞過了省法院，所以他們非同尋常的決定會留下后遺癥。

他說：“這不是一個合法的離婚。他們沒去法院。如果他們以后出現爭議，將無法獲得法律支持。”

May Titthara說，這位丈夫把他的那一半房子搬到了他父母那里。他和他父母居住，而他的妻子則不安全地繼續棲息在房子的右半部分。