Amendments Making Divorce More Difficult (comment)

This Comment appeared in the Facebook page, www.facebook.com/RoomforDebate

If there is no marriage – there is no commitment to stability – and no cultural message that working through relational conflict is worth the effort. However, more than trying to reform divorce laws, there needs to be an overhaul of the marriage laws. Creating a marital estate has been trivialized by almost every state – How many times have family law attorneys seen the look of shock when parties realized what they got themselves into LEGALLY by purchasing and filing a marriage license – something that gives no indication of the legal implications of filing the little quarter sheet piece of paper. And that’s just the legal part.

The “consumer” culture we have allowed to be promoted and to dominate our lives has created a hostile environment for all who might otherwise work through relational conflict. Making divorce more “difficult’ will not improve these relationships. The problem is deeper -and has to be addressed on the front end – Ideally we need to see a cultural movement toward valuing relationships enough to identify and navigate through conflict…