A married couple in Cambodia have gone their separate ways after literally cutting their home in half.

The wife will stay put in the upright half while her husband has carried off his half to start again on the other side of the village. Neighbours said the couple saw the radical action as the most cost-efficient and equitable way to avoid each other in a country where divorce lawyers can be expensive.

Vorng Morn, the headman of Cheach village, told the Phnom Penh Post: "We tried to persuade them to think clearly before they did this because they had been married for nearly 40 years. But they did not listen." Mr Morn refused to identify the couple to protect their privacy.

The impetus for the break up was the husband's alleged malingering, or the wife's alleged lack of care, depending on your point of view. "His wife said that if her husband got sick and stayed at home, she was made to pay for his medicine, but if he stayed at his parent's house, she wouldn't have to pay. So they separated," said Mr Morn.

Following the spat, the husband's friends helped him move his wife's belongings to one side of the property, before chiselling and sawing half of the building off. Until he reconstructs his half of the marital home the husband will live with his mother and father.

I worry about how they are going to share the dog...


Due to the credit crunch the idea caught on over here as well.

The original was here