Perhaps, if her husband has beaten her up once, she didn't go to the hospital to have her injuries documented, and there may be no one else who can back her story up. So maybe the court decides that there is no proof that her husband has treated her badly, and the simple fact that she wants to leave him may not be enough to grant her a divorce, if I understand you correctly. Besides, if it costs money to go to court to get a divorce, a woman may have to stay in an (abusive) marriage because she can't afford to get it dissolved.
Divorce does cost money, but it's not extremely expensive unless it drags on and on. Most people that want a divorce seem to come up with the money regardless of their resources. And a woman wouldn't be denied a divorce just because she didn't have proof of having the crap beaten out of her. There are
lots of resources available in the US for women in abusive relationships to get help. If they stay, it isn't because they can't get 'out'.
He may have convinced her of such, but it just isn't so. And it won't stop her from getting a divorce. I'm sure this must happen in Europe, too. The USA is not the only place where abuse of women (or men) exists.
Divorces are usually constested over monetary issues and over custody issues. And women contest divorces just as much as men. It's not only a man's right to contest a divorce - either person can contest it. What happens is something along the lines of this: Man or Woman 'A' files for divorce. When 'A' files for divorce from 'B', 'A' asks for 1/2 of the financial resources and full custody of the children. 'B' says why should 'A' have full custody of the children when 'A' is an unfit parent, or why should 'A' have 1/2 the resources when 'A' was a lazy bum? And so they go at it, and it often becomes a 'war'. This is simplified. Sometimes 'A' or 'B' has rights regarding the monetary resources regardless of whether or not they were a 'lazy bum'. Some (Most, I think.)states allow uncontested divorces which are cheaper and none of the above goes on. Surely custody issues and monetary issues are not so different in Europe? I've heard of some pretty nasty divorces from Europe, too. It seems to me like the more the money, the nastier the divorce.
And after all, marriage is a legal contract. It shouldn't be
extremely easy to get out of it. You wouldn't expect to get out of any other legal contract extremely easily, would you? I don't mean that it should be ridiculously hard, but I think certain documents and court costs are reasonable. I mean, sometimes people can get a divorce for cheaper than the cost of a moving violation (driving a car: i/e a speeding ticket).
