Turkish woman wins $7,500 from husband because he constantly smelled bad

Turkey’s Supreme Court (Yargıtay) has upheld an unusual divorce ruling: a man was found fully at fault for the breakdown of his marriage, partly because he failed to maintain personal hygiene despite repeated requests from his wife and constantly smelled of sweat.

The woman, B.D., filed a case in family court, claiming that her husband subjected her to psychological and verbal pressure, did not communicate with her enough, and that his relatives had access to their shared home and interfered in their family life.

She separately described her husband’s hygiene problems: according to her, he did not shower and continued to smell unpleasant even after she warned him.

The court of first instance found the man fully at fault and initially awarded the woman 20,000 lira in pecuniary compensation and 20,000 lira in non-pecuniary compensation, as well as 3,000 lira per month in child support.

The woman considered the compensation insufficient and appealed the decision. The case reached the Second Civil Chamber of Turkey’s Court of Cassation, which stated that persistent neglect of personal hygiene and the smell of sweat, despite repeated warnings, were also circumstances that violated marital duties and made living together unbearable.

At the same time, the court found the original amount of compensation too low and sent the case back for a retrial.

After the review, the family court awarded the woman 180,000 lira in pecuniary compensation and a further 180,000 lira in non-pecuniary compensation — 360,000 lira in total.

The man appealed the decision again, but Yargıtay found no violations in the assessment of the evidence and upheld the ruling.

Thus, the compensation amounted to 360,000 Turkish lira — approximately $7,500–8,000, depending on the exchange rate.

It is important to note that the court did not recognise the smell of sweat itself as the sole cause of the divorce: it was considered together with the other circumstances of the marital conflict.

This is not the first similar case in Turkey: back in 2022, Yargıtay separately stated that systematic neglect of personal hygiene and a persistent smell of sweat could be taken into account as a spouse’s fault when considering a divorce case.