It sounds like a plot from a television drama: two people marry, divorce, then marry again — not once, not twice, but four separate times. The twist? This was not about rekindled love — it was reportedly done to exploit marriage-related benefits. Strange, extreme, and a little chilling, this story sits at the far end of a spectrum where money and marriage collide.
The Bizarre Case: Four Weddings, Four Divorces
According to multiple news reports and viral accounts, a man in Asia married and divorced the same woman on four separate occasions in quick succession. Each marriage coincided with an opportunity to claim some form of benefit — marriage leave from work, spousal allowances, or eligibility for certain temporary government or employer perks tied to legal marital status.
Details vary across sources, but the pattern is consistent: marry, claim the benefit, divorce, then repeat the process. In some accounts the marriages lasted only days or weeks — long enough to file paperwork and receive the advantage, short enough to be undone before scrutiny set in.
Why Would Someone Do That?
To understand how this could happen, it helps to know how benefits and legal status sometimes interact:
- Marriage leave / spousal leave: Some employers grant paid days off for marriage or related administrative processes.
- Spousal insurance or coverage: Health and welfare benefits can be extended to legally married partners.
- Tax breaks and allowances: Certain tax calculations or household allowances favor married couples.
- Temporary subsidies or grants: Government or corporate programs occasionally distribute one-time benefits to households based on marital status.
When these rules are loosely enforced or rely on paperwork that’s easy to submit, unscrupulous individuals may see marriage as a tool — not a lifetime commitment. The result is a revolving-door marriage that treats legal union as a short-term financial strategy.
The Fallout: Legal Risk, Trust, and Reputation
What looks clever on paper has serious consequences in real life. Exploiting benefits through repeated marriages can bring multiple problems:
- Legal exposure: Employers or government agencies may investigate, revoke benefits, and pursue fraud charges if they find intentional manipulation.
- Financial penalties: Benefits may be clawed back, and fines can apply depending on local law.
- Relationship damage: The emotional cost to the spouse who is treated as a temporary legal instrument can be enormous. Trust breaks down quickly.
- Reputational harm: Media exposure or workplace discovery can stain careers and social standing.
Comparing This to Other Benefit-Driven Marriages
This case is extreme, but it belongs to a broader category of benefit-driven unions. Earlier on Nekenwa Stories, we shared other insurance-related marriage tales — from couples who rushed to marry for health coverage to a spouse hidden on a life policy that nearly destroyed a relationship (read that story here).
Those stories show a range: some marriages begin as pragmatic safety nets and grow into real partnerships; others reveal how secrecy, financial incentives, or outright exploitation can corrode the idea of a shared future.
Lessons for Couples — And for Systems
Whether you’re a reader thinking about getting married or a policy-maker designing benefits, this strange story offers hard lessons:
- Know the rules: Understand eligibility and the legal implications of claiming marriage-based benefits.
- Communicate openly: If finances or benefits are a motive, talk about them early so both partners consent to the arrangement and its consequences.
- Think long-term: Marriages based primarily on short-term gain often fail when the incentive is gone.
- Design better systems: Employers and governments should tighten verification and consider how perverse incentives might encourage abuse.
“A marriage used as a tool rarely stays a marriage in the true sense — trust and commitment fade when an institution is treated like a transaction.”
Conclusion
Marrying and divorcing the same person four times to extract benefits is, at once, bizarre and instructive. It exposes the strange places where love, law, and money meet. Systems that rely on marital status for perks must be designed to avoid encouraging manipulation, and couples must remember that when marriage becomes transactional, the human cost is often high.
Have you ever heard of someone marrying for benefits — and regretting it later? Share your story in the comments below.