The Supreme Court upheld a decision made at trial, and previously upheld by the Court of Appeal, to refuse a contested divorce petition by Mrs Owens, on the basis that the trial judge could not conclude that Mr Owens's behaviour towards his wife amounted to behaviour so unreasonable that a reasonable person could not be expected to live with him.

The Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal expressed regret at not being able to grant the divorce petition, and public reaction to the perceived unfairness Mrs Owens was placed in led to the passage of the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020.

Mrs Owens left the marital home in February 2015, and filed for divorce in May.

As was normal in divorce cases at the time, Mrs Owens had initially filed a small number of claims of unacceptable behaviour, but after she was notified that Mr Owens sought to contest the divorce petition, she amended her complaint to advance 27 examples of behaviour by her husband that she claimed amounted to behaviour contrary to s1(2)(b) of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973.

The Court of Appeal noted significant changes in social attitudes towards marriage and family since the passage of the Divorce Reform Act 1969 and the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, including the outlawing of marital rape in R v R, the significant rise in unmarried cohabitation, and the extension of marriage to gay couples.