Abstract: The Truths and Myths of Divorce in America There are many facets to all divorces. Why did a divorce happen, who is affected, and how do you move on? All of these questions are at the forefront of not only the couple’s mind, but also their families. Answering the question
In the world today, many men and women believe divorce is always a dreadful thing that occurs, but there is actually a beneficial side to it. Divorce has been around for many years and mainly just men were the only ones capable to make the decisions. Until, The Guardian states,” The 1857 Matrimonial Causes Act allowed ordinary people to divorce.” Under this new law, it was capable for women to make the decision, they just had to prove the facts to withhold a divorce. Following 1857, in 1923 there was a private member’s bill that allowed women to petition for a divorce for adultery. However, it only made it a little bit easier, they still needed to prove the reason. A few years later, they were able to pass another law, this law allowed divorce
Divorce Rate Throughout time, practices that were once never used, become more common. In the 1600s divorce was a forbidden practice or a last resort. Since then, laws have changed, and so hasn’t the stigma related with divorce. The guilt and fault that divorce once carried has vanished. According to
Society is constantly changing. We are able to visualize these changes year after year by way of statistics. This allows us to be able to use these values to qualitatively analyze correlation, causation, and effect. One topic that has benefited from the use of statistics to measure its effects is
Before Divorce can harm couples without children as well. One way is that divorce is much more popular to those who are getting married for the second or third time. This is can be explained by a few different reasons. One reason is simply because the spouses know how easily they can get divorced. They are more likely to focus on their spouse’s imperfections than on how they can mend their dissolving marriage. Also when a person remarries there is a higher chance for the other spouse to have children. This can put stress on both people because the new spouse will want more attention, but the attention will be given to the kids or vice versa. Money can also be a problem in second marriages more than the first because spouses are more likely to be financially crippled from having the previous divorce; this in turn will make them less financially secure. Divorce can also make people feel insecure with themselves and make them think that everything is their fault. It can cause depression and in certain cases could even lead to suicide.
Divorce is a rising social issue in the United States of America, but it is not a new concept. Divorce has been a social issue since at least 1867 when for every 35.9 marriages, one couple were to get a divorce (Huth, 1947). Although divorce is not a new concept, it has become more social acceptance which is raising the divorce rate over the years. Another controversial topic in divorce is when the two people divorcing have a child or children together. Approximately 150,000-200,000 children in the United States of America are affected by divorce yearly (Huth, 1947).
Children react differently yet similarly in divorce. Every child caught up in the distress of divorce has a hard time coping with it and imagining their life without a parent. Their
They require a lot of consideration from the court and many factors, from the treatment of spouses to the potential future one could have had outside of the marriage, affect the outcome. As such, there are many change laws and views on policies. In modern divorce cases, a big issue is spousal support. Spousal support was original thought of as “compensation to a dependent wife for her divorcing husband’s breach of marital vows and responsibilities” (244). However, modern divorce cases have caused for a rethink of this aged idea. No fault-divorces and changes in typical gender roles caused a shift in typical spousal support. To correct this, spousal support was proposed to be seen as a compensation for the dependent spouse’s noneconomic support. Basically, the dependent spouse has provided just as much for the family as the primary care taker. If the court see that the dependent spouse’s contributions have helped the non-dependent spouse’s ability to advance in their career, then they should be compensated for this effort. The dependent spouses are no longer entirely dependent on the primary caretaker. If a couple divorces, one spouse is not significantly disadvantaged for sacrificing their career to help the family. In the case of Dan v. Karen, Karen is not harmed for her efforts. It possible that Dan would never have obtained his road worker job, and thus be as financially well off as he is if Karen did not quit her job and raise the kids.
There has been a long history regarding reform proposals and recommendations surrounding the law of divorce. The first legislation which was introduced in divorce law was the Matrimonial Causes Act 1857, which allowed people to obtain a divorce. However, today the provisions within that act are outdated, yet, it represented society in 1857. In 1937, legislation altered to catch up with societal changes and additional grounds of divorce were introduced. This again occurred in 1973, where legislation changed altering the grounds and facts in which a divorce could be obtained. This is the current legislation relied upon today.
The divorce revolution that begun during the 60s and 70s made away for people to no longer view marriages as the prisms of duty, obligation, and sacrifice, (Wilcox, 2009). During the divorce revolution the fault based divorce was eliminated; in 1969 the Governor of California signed the nation’s first bill for the No-Fault Divorce Law. The No-Fault Divorce Law eradicated the need for a married couple to fabricate spousal transgression to divorce their spouse, instead it eliminated the legal bonding power of the husband and wife, which allowed either of them to dissolve the marriage for any reasons or without a reason at all (Wilcox,
When couples separate, their expenses can increase to as much as $20,000 to $30,000 a year because they now need to support their separate households by themselves (The real cost of divorce in Canada, 2013). Though finances affect both parents in a divorce, women were shown to struggle more with their finances and also were not able to recover their financial stability as fast as men, especially after the divorce. A Canadian study found that women’s median income drops 29% the first year after marital dissolution, while for men it drops 7% (The Effects of Divorce on America, 2014). As for how much each parent earns after divorce, census data from 2009 shows that 32.6 percent of divorced men had incomes of $75,000 and up every year while 29.9 percent of women had incomes of $25,000 to $40,000 (Marriage, Divorce, Money, 2012). Compare to what they were earning before divorcing, men earn about 95% of their pre-dissolution median income, while women earn about 80% (The Effects of Divorce on America,
Looking at the next issue I feel is another steeping stone in divorce is finances. It seems our society feels that the more we have the happier we will be. If we have more money, better job, bigger house it all equals a better life. We work towards higher paying jobs which tend to lead to more hours in return means less time at home and building a family unit. During
Changing Divorce Laws In 1995, Statistics Canada data shows that 30% of marriages split (McGovern). Since the 1960’s, marriage and divorce have been undergoing profound changes which have altered the meaning of marriage, the chances of its ending in divorce and the circumstances attached to marriage. These changes have
Introduction: In the last two decades divorce has increased substantially leaving couples single and families broken. Divorce is the reality for many families as there is an increase in divorce rates, cohabitation rates, and the number of children raised in step and single marital families. Divorce cannot be overlooked as it negatively affects and impacts youngsters for the rest of their lives. Although it is the decision between two parents’s children are hurt the most in the process. The concept of divorce is extremely difficult for children to understand as there are many unanswered questions and uncertainties. “Will my mom or dad remarry and who will I live with?” are concerns children express while going through divorce. Many
The Extraordinary Benefits of Divorce In the world today, countless men and women believe divorce is always a dreadful thing that occurs, but there is actually a beneficial side to it. Divorce has been around for several years and mainly just men were the only ones capable to make the decisions.