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The lenient attitude towards divorce can be changed only when the laws to attain a divorce are made stringent - tougher and more severe.
No-Fault Divorce Law
The No-Fault divorce law is obtained under any one of the following grounds:
- Both the partners have been separated for at least 2 years and are opting for divorce with mutual consent.
- The couples have been separated for at least 5 years and are opting for divorce with the consent of either spouse.
The advent of this law has made it easier for men to divorce their wives easily and escape from supporting them thereafter. So, this law is usually opposed by women and family solicitors. While the law cannot be completely dissolved, it can be restructured to accommodate the financial needs of the spouse.
Making Rules Tougher
Tougher rules should be enforced to reduce divorce rates and enforce parental care for children, if at all they opt for divorce. Some of the rules that can help to lessen the divorce rate are given below:
- Parents who decline to take care of their children need be punished by revealing their name in the ‘name and shame’ websites.
- Even though the No-fault divorce law has made divorce easy, the advent of the covenant marriage has helped to reduce divorce rates.
- A plan needs to be arranged for directly transferring a portion of the father’s funds towards his child’s maintenance expenses.
- The compensation amount usually increases with the increase in the number of years spent together with the spouse. Heavy compensations can scare a person off the divorce route.
In case of civil partnership, same sex couples share common legal procedures as married couples.
Covenant Marriage
A Covenant Marriage is similar to an ordinary marriage but varies in the divorce aspect. In an ordinary marriage, divorce can be obtained using the No-Fault law, whereas in covenant marriages divorce can be filed only under the grounds of adultery, concealment of assets, unreasonable behavior, etc. This type of marriage would help to avoid divorces arising due to simple problems that can easily be sorted out with due effort from the couple.
A lot of people, who usually protest against the No-fault divorce laws, support the promotion of Covenant Marriages.
Contribution by Welfare Associations
Children and women are most affected by divorce. They are often led to poverty. So, many welfare associations have taken steps to reduce the divorce rates. As a first step, they try to provide counseling to avert divorce. However, if the couples decide to divorce, the welfare associations make necessary arrangements for alimony and child support. Also, they educate the divorcing couple on divorce laws and procedures, in order to prevent them from making mistakes that could cost them dearly.
Contribution by Government
The government has also imposed several laws and made it tougher in order to ensure proper care for children suffering from their parent’s divorce. Apart from this, the government also allots funds for upbringing of the children, whose parents are not in a position to pay child support.
Rising Divorce Cost
The cost involved in divorce proceedings and the compensation amount given after divorce, has reduced the divorce rate to some extent. The average amount of money spent for settling the divorce has increased to £4.3 billion in 2003. Such a high average is owing to the settlements in celebrity divorces.
A survey says, this amount increases year after year. Previously, couples went to the extent of selling their homes to meet the divorce expenditure, but now divorcing couple seem to have enough funds in their savings to pay towards these divorce proceedings.
Other inexpensive ways for filing for divorce is through online divorces. However, this can be opted for only in the case of uncontested divorce.
The Last Word
The advent of online divorces, no-fault divorces, DIY divorces, etc has made the divorce process easier. The main concept of divorce is to end up the marital relationship under extreme conditions such as unreasonable behavior, abuse, etc. But people take advantage of the laws and divorce their partners even for trivial reasons.
Rules should be made tougher in order to reduce the divorce rates. But, even enforcing tougher rules might not help too much in retaining the marital relationship for long. The problem can truly be addressed and the divorces rates can be reduced only through the willingness of the couple. If they are ready to face the challenges and make their marriage work, it would really turn out to be a boon to society and the family as an institution. |
