When Frances Niznik's estranged husband, Mark, called from out of the blue and asked that they reconcile their marriage, she was surprised. When she moved to Scotland to do just that, and he moved out to divorce her, she was even more surprised.

The couple married in 1999, but when Mark's employer moved him from Henley-on-Thames to Edinburgh the marriage began to fall apart. The couple had been living separately for 5 years, when Mark started calling Frances constantly and "bombarding" her with flowers. He begged her to move to Scotland so that they could work on their marriage.

Conceding, Frances moved. Within a week, Mark moved out and filed for divorce. He'd also already put her name on the electoral roll weeks earlier making her a resident of Scotland.  As a resident of Scotland Frances is no longer entitled to the same share of bonus and pension monies that she'd had rights to as a citizen of England. The reconciliation had been a ploy.

In the end Mrs. Niznik took a lump sum settlement of £750,000 as well as the former marital home for her and her daughter. "It sounds a lot," She said, "and I know I am much more fortunate than many other women. The mortgage on the house was paid off, but I was left without any pension rights and I have to pay legal bills of over £150,000. "

Her pain may very well be others fortune. Frances is now campaining for a change in the laws that allowed this to happen. "I am English, my ex-husband is English, we lived in England and it should have been an English court that settled our divorce." With her help, someone else might be able to avoid her fate.

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk