Jakarta –
An elderly couple in China are taking legal action to end the marriage between their daughter-in-law and their son. This turned out to be motivated by the health condition of the child.
The elderly son had been in a vegetative state for the last 15 years. The reason for filing for divorce is because they don’t want their daughter-in-law to bear the heavy burden any longer.
reported SCMPa court in Jilin Province earlier this month accepted the lawsuit filed by a couple who are the legal guardians of their son, surnamed Liu.
Liu married his wife, surnamed Zhang, in 2002, and they had a daughter the following year. In 2008, Liu developed a vegetative state caused by an unspecified disease.
To earn income to support the family, Zhang moved to a nearby town as a migrant worker while her bedridden husband was mostly cared for by his parents in their hometown, the report said.
Liu’s parents said their son’s health had deteriorated in recent years and they wanted to dissolve the marriage between their son and Zhang because they could not bear to let him continue to be bound by their son’s illness.
“Our daughter-in-law, please leave. You are still young while our granddaughter has grown up. We can’t be a burden to you anymore,” the couple said to their daughter-in-law.
After examining the background situation of the Liu family, the court granted the divorce. In the divorce agreement, Zhang agreed she would take care of her ex-in-laws when they were unable to care for themselves in the future.
The family’s story has touched mainland Chinese internet users and has been viewed 4 million times on Douyin and 2 million times on Weibo.
The heartwarming story of a couple caring for their sick partner is frequently trending on mainland social media.
In southern China’s Hunan province, a man has won an award from local authorities for caring for his severely disabled wife for more than three decades. His wife was injured in the face of knife-wielding robbers in the 1980s.
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(kna/suc)
