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.

一对柬埔寨夫妇在结束40年婚姻时可能太过教条，居然把他们的家产真的一分为二了。
A couple who separated after 40 years of marriage split their house in two -- literally.

一对夫妇结束其40年婚姻时把他们的家一劈为二---名副其实的“分家”

丈夫把房子一劈为二。

“这是我看到的最为奇特的事情，”为位于柬埔寨首都的英文报纸《金边邮报》撰写此报道的MAY TITTHARA说道，"那里的人从来没看到过离婚会发生这样的事情。对他们来说，这太有趣了。”

这对夫妇一起居住一个村庄的一所房子里，那里位于距首部大约50英里（80公里）的柬埔寨南部的波萝勉省。

这对夫妇对记者保持沉默，不过，据那里的村长告诉MAY TITTHARA说，丈夫因为生病而他妻子不愿意照顾他，所以他很气愤。

记者在采访村长和邻居们后获知，上周，这位丈夫和他的朋友们把他的财产搬到了房子的一边，然后用锯子锯，用凿子凿，把房子一分为二。

这对夫妇也把他们的财产分了四份： 他们两人，还有他们的两个孩子。

这个省为孩子和妇女提供法律帮助的律师PRAK PHIN说，因为这对夫妇分开的时候绕过了省法院，所以他们非同寻常的决定会留下后遗症。

他说：“这不是一个合法的离婚。他们没去法院。如果他们以后出现争议，将无法获得法律支持。”

May Titthara说，这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，而他的妻子则不安全地继续栖息在房子的右半部分。