Man Saws Home in Two After Divorce with Wife

With nearly half of all marriages ending in divorce, everyone is familiar with the awful and arduous process of legally separating from an ex-spouse. Without a pre-nuptual agreement, that means that the divorcees must come to a consensus on a fair split of the assets acquired during the union, which is even more difficult with the precense of attorneys. Usually, this means that a couple must divide bank accounts, property, and possessions into some semblance of equal balance.

The term "messy divorce" has been coined to describe a divorce in which the legal proceedings and the categorizing of the assets becomes a litigious disaster in which both sides cannot concur. As emotions are banged about by both the end of the romance and the trying court settlement, enduring such a romantic conclusions can by a dreadful experience.

One German man seems to have found the solution to the problem of a "messy divorce." Instead of weathering the storms of the divorce settlement, the crafty German craftsman has decided to completely forego the judicial system altogether and has taken the division of assets into his own hands, though in the fairest split he could imagine.

In eastern Germany, near the town of Sonnenburg, a certified, professional mason undergoing a divorce has decided to saw his home in two. Fair is fair I suppose. The man took the time to measure with exacting precision to ensure two perfectly even halves, and then he powered up his chainsaw and began cutting. According to the news service Reuters, after the man saw through the wooden structure, he loaded his half of the house onto a forklift truck, and drove off to his brother's residence.

Such a drastic measure may have saved him from legal action, but more importantly he must have sent a bold message to his wife. No doubt he was a bit disgruntled, but such may have been her due for deciding to split with her husband and claim her portion of their possessions. While anyone could expect to emerge from a divorce with half the assets, no one anticipates ending with physically half of the home. Indeed, Reuters reports that she was quite surprised.

The man said he was just taking his due," said a police spokesman. "But I don't think his wife was too pleased."

No word has yet been released on whether his wife will respond with a legal suit because surely the house is left less valuable than if it was sold whole and the profits divided.

"German man chainsaws house in two in divorce split." Reuters News Service. URL: (http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyid=2007-03-09T152744Z_01_L09200017_RTRUKOC_0_US-GERMANY-DIVORCE-CHAINSAW.xml&src=rss)