Couples

Amy Winehouse Can't Get Divorced

By Courtney Rubin

01/17/2008 at 01:00 PM EST

Memo to Blake Fielder-Civil, who's rumored to be threatening to divorce Amy Winehouse: You can't.

"Under English law no divorce proceedings could be commenced until a year has passed since the date of the marriage," says Alison Green, head of the family law department at Mackrell Turner Garrett's London office.

Winehouse, 24, and Fielder-Civil, 25, married in May 2007.

Another option would be annulment, but "basically the husband would have to show that the marriage had not been consummated," Green tells PEOPLE.

Not likely when you consider the smitten singer canceled a chunk of her 2007 tour because of Blake's absence – he is currently in jail after allegedly trying to manipulate a witness in his trial on assault charges stemming from a 2006 altercation.

"I can't give it my all onstage without my Blake," Winehouse wrote on her Web site. "My husband is everything to me and without him it's just not the same."

As for the actual claims that Fielder-Civil threatened divorce, a friend of the couple tells PEOPLE: "I'm sure he did [say that] – but that doesn't mean he's going to do it. That's the way they row. It's very intense."