Divorce
Divorce is the province of state governments, so divorce law varies from state to state. Prior to the 1970s, divorcing spouses had to allege that the other spouse was guilty of a crime or sin like abandonment or adultery; when spouses simply could not get along, lawyers were forced to manufacture "uncontested" divorces. No-fault divorce statutes were first enacted in 1969 in California; South Dakota was the last state to allow no-fault divorce, in 1985. No-fault divorce on the grounds of "irreconcilable differences" is now available in all states. However, many states have recently required separation periods prior to a formal divorce decree. State law provides for child support where children are involved, and sometimes for alimony.
About a million U.S. children per year are newly faced with parental divorce, down from a peak well in excess of a million circa 1980. According to The Heritage Foundation, "children whose parents have divorced are increasingly the victims of emotional and sexual abuse. They exhibit more health, behavioral, and emotional problems, are involved more frequently in and drug abuse, and have higher rates of suicide."
Read more about this topic: Marriage In The United States
Famous quotes containing the word divorce:
“Children of the same family, the same blood, with the same first associations and habits, have some means of enjoyment in their power, which no subsequent connections can supply; and it must be by a long and unnatural estrangement, by a divorce which no subsequent connection can justify, if such precious remains of the earliest attachments are ever entirely outlived.”
—Jane Austen (1775–1817)
“This habit of free speaking at ladies’ lunches has impaired society; it has doubtless led to many of the tragedies of divorce and marital unhappiness. Could society be deaf and dumb and Congress abolished for a season, what a happy and peaceful life one could lead!”
—M. E. W. Sherwood (1826–1903)
“Ever since you came back from Tibet I’ve had a feeling you were planning to divorce me and marry a laboratory.”
—John Colton (1886–1946)