Why Mary-Kate Olsen's Unusual Divorce Filing Was Denied — and What She Could Do Next

It looks like Mary-Kate Olsen will have to be patient with her divorce from her husband of five years, Olivier Sarkozy.

According to court documents, Olsen, 33, requested an emergency order to file for divorce from Sarkozy on May 14. She reportedly signed a petition to divorce the French banker, 50, on April 17, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, New York courts haven't been accepting divorce filings — except in cases of emergency.

A judge denied the fashion designer's request and New York City matrimonial attorney Bernard Post tells PEOPLE this was because her filing did not rise to the level of a true emergency.

"Domestic violence is an emergency, perhaps refusing to provide health care is an emergency. I want to be divorced because I want to be divorced now is not an emergency," says Post.

Olsen cited fears of being forced out of her New York City apartment by her husband and being at risk of losing her personal property in an emergency affidavit, which sought the court to grant her application for divorce "an essential matter."

"This application is an emergency because my husband expects me to move out of our home on Monday, May 18, 2020, in the middle of New York City being on pause due to COVID-19," Olsen said, according to a copy of the affidavit obtained by PEOPLE.

"I am petrified that my husband is trying to deprive me of the home that we have lived in and if he is successful, I will not only lose my home but I risk losing my personal property as well," Olsen said, adding that she is "gravely concerned that my husband will dissipate, dispose of and/or secret not only my separate property belongings but also our marital property belongings that are in the Gramercy Apartment."

Yet, Post says the fact that the fashion designer has several other homes was most likely one of the reasons the judge denied her request.

"If she really had no place else to live, that might have attracted the judge's attention," says Post, who adds that Olsen's next steps are simply to follow normal protocol and wait for her divorce to be granted.

"She can go ahead and have her separation agreement filed and deliver it to a judge. That judge would look it over, sign it and send it down to a clerk’s office," says Post. "And in due course, she will be divorced."

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