Repealing No Fault Divorce Will Decrease Divorce Rates

Repealing No Fault Divorce Will Decrease Divorce Rates

In the old days before God and witnesses, marriage was considered a sacred contract agreed to by a man and woman. If a spouse wanted to divorce then there had to be evidence of adultery, abandonment, or physical abuse. In the year 1969 California Governor Ronald Reagan signed America’s first No Fault Divorce law. This law allowed the spouse to simply allege that the marriage had “irreconcilable differences” and the divorce was always granted with proven evidence of no fault of course. No fault divorce is unconstitutional and should be repealed to lower the divorce rate across America, to bring families closer together, and to have American citizens take the oath of marriage more seriously.

No fault divorce dates to after the civil war. Sure, there wasn’t a law such as Reagan’s at that time but it was considered liberal divorce and created a thing called “Divorce Colonies”. Divorce colonies granted spouses with the freedom to divorce without requirements and eliminated the long waiting period. The Eastern states carried requirements while the Western states were welcome to these Divorce Colonies (Masci pp. 25-40). In our generation, people in a marriage split up using any sign of trouble as a scapegoat. However, many people disagree. Most people only get divorced after they have tried as hard as they can to keep the marriage together (Masci pp. 25-40). Truthfully it can go both ways depending on the circumstances and severity of the relationship. Initiating no fault divorce just makes it much easier to give up and quit the marriage. Taking away this law would implement couples to try harder and not be distracted or miss leaded in the wrong direction.

A high percentage of divorced women and children stems from no fault divorce. The father ends up having the freedom and does not take responsibility for his behavior in majority of cases. The repeal of no fault divorce would restrict this from happening (Clark pp. 409-432). It is no question that children suffer greatly from divorce. They have a great deal of pain and confusion to whether it is their fault or not. A lot of the animosity has been directed to them and to which they should not be the weapons in a battle for control (Clark pp. 409-432). Being torn between two parents, dealing with custody battles and court hearings shows adult conflicts takes away from their childhood. When I was 11 years old my parents divorced, it was very tough being in between households, hearing two different sides to the story, and feeling as if you must choose between your two parents. Children from a divorced family create a high probability of health, emotional, and behavioral problems, lower academic success and a high risk of divorce when they marry (Masci pp. 25-40). My suggestion for parents wanting to divorce is before divorce papers are filed, they should be required to take a course that summarizes the impact of divorce on children.

Many people argue that No Fault divorce laws are not the cause of couple and family breakups. However, I beg to differ because it is easy to give up and give into divorce then it is to try and make it work. Not having the option to no fault would push couples to do counseling, work together more as a team rather than singling each other out, and build confidence in the relationship. This would make couples appreciate one another and realize the reason they got married in the first place. People that have been in a marriage for 50 plus years