Divorce Prevention Legislation

Welcome to Divorce Prevention Legislation

We aim to track all legislation affecting the availability and timing of divorce, and any legislation aimed to help improve marriages. This site continues, but does not duplicate, the work of the legislation web sites on the old Americans for Divorce Reform web site and John Crouch’s Divorce Reform Page. Those sites have an immense amount of legislation that was introduced over the past 12 years, including some bills that passed, legislative history and fiscal impact statements. Their main sections are: mutual consent bills, waiting periods, marriage education and counseling,  best-interests-of-children requirements, Covenant Marriage, other proposals for free choice of divorce rules, "Marriage Penalties", state Marriage Commissions, and model legislation. Another very useful, up-to-date legislation site is part of the Smart Marriages web site. Please, if you have  news about a posting, or a new bill, post it as a comment.

Study: Some divorcing couples can & will use "second chances" to rebuild marriages

"Delaying divorce to save marriages" - Washington Post 10/20/11, By William J. Doherty and Leah Ward Sears

 

Malta referendum legalizes divorce

"Malta says 'Yes' to divorce" -- Reliable News.

Texas Wait Period Bill Uses Perfect Existing Law for Domestic Violence Exception

Texas HB 3707 extends the existing 60-day post-filing waiting period to one year in non-consensual no-fault divorces where there are minor children. The added wording is:

(a-1)  Except as provided by Subsection (c), the court may not grant a divorce before the first anniversary of the date the suit was filed if:

 (1)  the divorce is sought on the grounds of insupportability;

 (2)  the household of one of the spouses is the primary residence for a child under the age of 18 born of the marriage; and

 (3)  the respondent does not agree to the divorce.

 

Subsection C is the existing list of exceptions for the current 60-day wait. The exceptions are where there is a restraining order or criminal conviction for family violence. This is language that is already on the books. It reads:

(c)  A waiting period is not required under Subsection (a) or (a-1) before a court may grant a divorce in a suit in which the court finds that:

  (1)  the respondent has been finally convicted of or received deferred adjudication for an offense involving family violence as defined by Section 71.004 against the petitioner or a member of the petitioner's household; or

   (2)  the petitioner has an active protective order under Title 4 or an active magistrate's order for emergency protection under Article 17.292, Code of Criminal Procedure, based on a finding of family violence, against the respondent because of family violence committed during the marriage.

This is exactly what we have been advocating as the only exceptions to bills restricting divorce, and it is a pleasant surprise to see that Texas already does it. It gives the same level of protection for domestic violence that modern protective-order laws and procedures already give, instead of using archaic "intolerable cruelty" fault divorce grounds or trying to make up new ones from scratch. It also means the judge and the divorcing couple do not have to spend time fighting about violence allegations in the divorce case; the work on that will already have been done in the restraining order case or criminal case.

The only faults of this bill are that (1) the waiting period only happens after filing for divorce, which doesn't seem like a great way to allow time for a marriage to recover; and (2) the exception seems to include very short-term temporary protective orders, which can be granted without a two-sided hearing or any notice; but in practice, there is probably never a divorce hearing during the short time that such orders remain in effect.
Texas Legislature, Session 82(R). HB 3707

North Dakota Reform bill turned into a study, passes senate

The Senate Judiciary Committee was mostly against the original SB  2367 on pre-divorce education, and turned it into a study, which was approved by the senate. Better connaisseurs of legislative language than I should tell us who "the legislative management is", and what, if anything, happens when the legislature says  the legislative management shall consider studying" something.

Further status reports and textual massages at http://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/62-2011/bill-index/bi2367.html

TEXT THAT PASSED SENATE:
A BILL to provide for a legislative management study relating to divorce reform and education.BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF NORTH DAKOTA:SECTION 1. LEGISLATIVE MANAGEMENT STUDY - DIVORCE REFORM AND EDUCATION. During the 2011-12 interim, the legislative management shall consider studying the physical, emotional, and financial effects associated with divorce involving dependentchildren. The legislative management shall offer legislative policy solutions, including divorc ereform legislation and marriage and relational education, which will lead to increasing the number of dependent children living in intact families. The legislative management shall report its findings and recommendations, together with any legislation required to implement therecommendations, to the sixty-third legislative assembly.

Malta PM opposes referendum for no-fault divorce upon 4-years' living apart

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110221/local/pm-fears-no-fault-divorce

Other news stories seem to indicate the referendum will be held May 28, 2011.

Montana pre-divorce counseling bill - HB 438 - dies

Divorce counseling measure dies in Montana House

 Feb 21, 2011 6:38 AM by Marnee Banks (KXLH Helena) 

This is the Montana bill reported earlier on this blog

Mississippi 5-year divorce bill defeated; AP story misrepresents as being about abuse

The Family Law News Blog: Mississippi 5-year divorce bill defeated; AP story misrepresents as being about abuse.

Malta: Possible referendum to allow divorce

Malta: Possible referendum to allow divorce

Montana pre-divorce counseling bill - HB 438

Bill status and text

Article on bill's introduction and initial reactions for and against.

most relevant text --

[unless the parties have undertaken counseling within the previous 12 months that otherwise satisfies the requirements of this section], before the court may issue a decree of dissolution of marriage or legal separation of parties with minor children, the court shall order the parties to complete at least 10 hours of counseling in not less than 8 weeks consisting of at least 3 hours of individual counseling of each party and 4 hours of joint counseling of the parties. Counseling must include but is not limited to conciliation strategies and the effect of divorce on minor children. Counseling must be paid for by the parties, and costs may be allocated between the parties by the court. Counseling must be provided by:

     (i) a marriage mentor appointed by a member of the clergy;

     (ii) a licensed marriage or family counselor;

     (iii) a licensed psychiatrist or a licensed psychologist;

     (iv) a licensed professional clinical mental health counselor;

     (v) a licensed independent social worker; or

     (vi) an official representative of a religious institution.

     (b) The requirements of subsection (5)(a) do not apply if there has been a claim of physical abuse of one of the parties by the other. Corroboration is not required for a claim of physical abuse for the purposes of this subsection (5)(b)."

 

Covenant Marriage introduced in Kansas

Status and link to text