Divorce, Divorce Rates, and Laws That Can Reduce Divorce Rates

The termination of a marriage agreement is referred to as divorce. Marriage comes before the divorce. To comprehend separation, one must first comprehend marriage. Marriage is an institution, which means it is a serious affair of morals that is sanctioned by both the law and the majority of faiths. The general conception of marriage is that it is a union of two people who live as husband and wife. Marriage, on the other hand, is only recognized by the constitution as a civil contract (Papps). The statute provides a marriage license from the state for a marriage to be legitimate. The permit states one’s intent to wed a particular person, a blood exam to find any diseases that are communicable. Other vital needs include a witness who is an official like a minister, a judge or a priest. The witness ascertains that a couple is intending to wed the confines of the marital contract. Also, mutual witness to observe the signing of the contract, and finally a record of the witnessed legal binding contract known as the certificate of marriage. Therefore, for a couple to get a divorce, it must also be done as legally as how the union was done. In recent years the number of divorces has risen, and so the value of the institution of marriage has been watered down. Divorce has adverse effects on the family, especially on the children. With the high rate of marital dissolution, it is necessary for laws to be made to discourage couples from getting divorces and encourage the couples to seek other avenues of saving their marriages. This paper will look into the common causes of divorce, and the types of separations. Then the rate of divorce causes of increase in the frequency of the divorces, and the adverse effects of divorce on the family will be discussed, and finally, essential laws that can curb the rate of dissolution will be identified and discussed.There are very many causes of divorce according to (Papps). Primary causes of divorce are mainly from sexual issues, money issues, and communication issues. More specific examples of causes of divorce are infidelity, financial problems, lack of communication, loss of intimacy, unrealistic expectations and poor conflict resolution skills. Others include wrong motivations for marriage, lack of common goals, development of varied interests and priorities, abuse in the union, substance addiction, and an age of marriage, change in physical appearance, and differences in parenting styles. Some of the causes of divorce will be discussed below.Infidelity is the leading the cause of marriage failure that ends up in divorce. Cheating is when one of the couple or both seek intimacy from outside the marriage. Some of the reasons that cause a wife or a husband to cheat are resentment and hunger, different sexual appetite in one of the couple and a general loss of intimacy. Often, infidelity is the manifestation of core issues affecting a marriage. Money becomes an issue from lack of it, different spending practices, and when one of the couples makes more than the other. Lack of funds strains a relationship, and without understanding, it leads to anger frustration. Different spending habits lead to arguments and fights. When one of the couples makes more than the other, especially a wife earning more than the husband, traditional roles in marriage are shifted leading to power struggles. Money problems strain marriages leading to divorce. Lack of adequate communication between spouses causes many divorces. Healthy communication is essential in marriages and poor communication habits like yelling, use of foul comments, and lack of sufficient talking to help express feelings. Once healthy communication stops, marital problems begin, and marriage often ends in divorce. Loss of intimacy is when the connection that leads a couple to marry is lost. Issues like one are not as romantic as before, or the other partner lacks sexual drive as back arising in the area of intimacy. Loss of sexual intimacy or emotional intimacy makes couples drift apart. Conflict resolution skills are very critical for marriage. Conflicts are part of marriage as it is hard to agree on everything. When partners are unable to hear each other’s perspective or respect each other during a disagreement, it leads to lingering resentment and if the issues are not resolved, it could to marriage breakdown. There are different types of divorce. One is the fault and no-fault divorce. A fault divorce is when a partner seeks a divorce sighting the partner’s transgressions like cheating, abuse, etc. No-fault divorce is when both partners agree on the wrongdoing of each other and that each of the spouses contributed to the breakdown of the marriage. Second is the contested marriage is when one partner takes the other to court seeking marriage annulment. Third, is the arbitration where spouse aims to annul their marriage outside the court using just a judge to weigh in on their issues then make a ruling. Fourth is mediation where a third person comes in to hear out a couple that can’t agree on how their problem, then the decision of the mediator is used to make a final ruling by the judge. Fifth is collaborative divorce where each partner gets an advocate to help in the divorce process, and both partners agree to work in tandem to solve their issue, and failure to cooperate leads to withdrawal of both the advocates. Sixth is the default divorce where one partner files for divorce and the other partner provides no response or can’t be found, and so eventually separation is given by default. Finally, there is the contested divorce where each partner has a lawyer to challenge their cases in court. Contested divorce involves settlements, hearings and sometimes trials in court. Such a separation is common when partners have greater liabilities or are wealthy (Divorce Knowledgebase).The rise of divorce rates in the last fifty years is attributed to some issues. According to (Aughinbaugh, Robles and Sun ) “the rise in marriage rates is attributed to rising in women freedom movements, the advent of the sexual revolution, an increase in women’s labor force participation altered perceptions of gender roles in marriage”. The mentioned developments have made women more outspoken on the issues facing marriages, and also feminism has led to women taking up roles that traditionally are for men. Therefore, roles have shifted in marriages, and the society has taken a while in adapting to the new changes while in the process marriage institution has suffered. In the last few decades, divorces have increased due to cultural customs that have reduced the perceptions that being single is bad and the same customs have increased cohabitation. Another reason is that shame attached to divorce has decreased. Finally, no-fault divorces have increased all around, and this development has led to increasing in divorces because couples see that it is possible just to separate amicably. “Divorces in the united states jumped by 34 percent as so-called no-fault laws went into effect across the nation” (Thompson)Divorces have adverse effects like the strain on young children emotional and mental health. Some children grow thinking that they are to blame for a divorce while other older children might suffer from psychological agony, depression, and resentment from divorce (Westbrook). The mentioned strains on children alter their growth and wellbeing. Separation also leads to loss of money through lawyers and depositions in courts. It costs couples a lot of money to start new lives after a divorce. It is, therefore, necessary to enact laws to curb the high rate of divorces in the society today to avoid the adverse effects of separations discussed above. The requirements should make it difficult for a couple to get a divorce. First legal reforms should attack the laws that permit no-fault divorce to make it more difficult to get such a divorce. According to laws passed in the state of Louisiana couples have to live separately for about two years before getting a divorce, and in this way, the couple has more time to save their marriage (Thompson). Some other could be laws that pass severe jail terms for faults like physical abuse.In conclusion, the institution of marriage in jeopardy and so it is necessary to devise ways to preserve it from divorces. Divorce has adverse effects on family especially the children and also costs the taxpayer a lot of money. With a rapid increase in divorce in the society over these recent times, it is essential for the government to enact laws that make it difficult to get a divorce. Works CitedAughinbaugh, Alison, Omar Robles and Hugette Sun . "Marriage and Divorce: Patterns by Gender, Race and Educational attaintment." Monthly Labor Review,U.S. Bureau of Labor 4 October 2013: 2.Divorce Knowledgebase. 6 August 2014. 11 November 2017 .Papps, Thomas G. The 8 Reasons for Divorce: Why Marriages Fail and how to Ensure Thar Yours Doesn't. Boston: Kallisti Publishing, 2012.Thompson, Lacy. Reducing divorce via covenant law. Los Angeles, 21 July 2011.Westbrook, Allison. The Negative Effects of a Divorce. n.d. 11 November 2017 .

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