The relations between the spouses should be based on tranquility, love, and mercy. Allah says: (And among His Signs is this, that He created for you mates from among yourselves, that you may dwell in tranquility with them, and He has put love and mercy between your (hearts): verily in that are Signs for those who reflect) (Ar-Rum 30: 21).
The wife should avoid packing and leaving from the marital home under normal circumstances. If the wife is abused, she can seek shelter away from her husband and seek help from the local authorities. She should not leave the country. In addition, marrying another husband without being divorced from the first is not a solution to the problem. Such a marriage is sinful and forbidden in Islam, and if a woman does this, she should declare sincere and honest repentance and shed tears for what she has done.
The European Council for Fatwa and Research states the following: A woman that does this is sinful and disobedient because of running away from her husband, from whom she had not been separated in a legal way, and because she married another husband. Therefore, she has to repent before Allah Almighty for that, as Allah Almighty says: (And those who, when they have done an act of indecency (illegal sexual intercourse) or wronged themselves with evil, remember Allah and ask forgiveness for their sins, and none can forgive sins but Allah, and do not persist knowingly in what (wrong) they have done) (Aal`Imran 3: 135)
The second marriage is invalid, and it is a questionable marriage because the second husband concluded the marriage contract without knowing that the woman was still the wife of the first husband [that is, without checking her marital status in her official documents]. Most jurists opine that the children of a questionable marriage shall belong to their father.
Owing to the invalidity of the second marriage, it must be corrected with a legal contract. In addition, the wife does not have to observe `iddah for her first husband, if more than four months and ten nights have elapsed since she knew of his death.