Text of the legislation, as enacted
In March, 2007, Utah legislator Lorie Fowlke wrote to Smart Marriages:
I
am an attorney and Utah state legislator, and attended your conference
last year in Atlanta. I just passed the nation's first divorce
orientation legislation, HB 128 and it has been funded! This bill is in
addition to the already required 2 hour divorce education class for
parents. The divorce orientation class is to help them understand the
impacts of divorce, provide resources for strengthening their marriage,
and resources to go through the divorce and deal with post-divorce
issues with less pain, if they proceed. It also allows couples to file
for a temporary separation, WITHOUT filing for divorce, for up to one
year. During the separation, they must take the course. If they proceed
with the divorce, the relatively small filing fee for the temporary
separation is applied to the divorce filing fee. It passed the HOUSE
unanimously and the Senate with only one dissenting vote. The court
administrator's office is ready to begin implementation through the
office that now administers the divorce education class for parents.
I would like people to know about this legislation so that they can
introduce something similar in their state. I appreciate all that you
do for marriage and families in this country.
Copy and paste this URL into your browser and you will have several options
to retrieve the text or even listen to committee and floor debates:
http://le.utah.gov/~2007/htmdoc/hbillhtm/HB0128S01.htm
Lorie D. Fowlke
Representative
District 59
Orem, Utah
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