'Second Chances' Proposes Modest Reforms of Divorce Law
The beliefs that most divorces occur after many years of conflict and misery, and once couples file for divorce all other options have been exhausted, are myths, according to a new report by the Institute for American Values.
Forty percent of U.S. couples who have already filed for divorce say that one or both of them are interested in reconciliation. Based upon its findings, the report suggests that modest changes to divorce law could bring benefits to society.
“Both of us sincerely believe that the modest reforms contained in our proposed Second Chances Act can contribute measurably to reducing unnecessary divorce in the United States,” said William J. Doherty, professor of family social science at the University of Minnesota, and Leah Ward Sears, partner at Schiff Hardin LLP and former chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, the principle investigators of the report called “Second Chances: A Proposal to Reduce Unnecessary Divorce.”
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The impact of divorce on the children of divorced parents was a principal concern to the investigators. Divorces that are most likely to harm children are also the ones with the greatest potential for reconciliation, according to the report.
To reduce the number of divorces in the United States, the report suggests that state legislatures make three changes to their divorce laws:
- Extend the waiting period for divorce to at least one year, with a voluntary early notification letter individuals may use to let their spouses know their intentions without necessarily filing for divorce.
- Require pre-filing education for parents of minor children considering divorce, with a module on reconciliation and a module on a non-adversarial approach to divorce.
- Create university-based centers of excellence to improve the education available to couples at risk of divorce.
The report estimates that these changes would benefit about 400,000 children who would otherwise suffer the consequences of parental divorce and would produce significant savings for U.S. taxpayers.
Maggie Gallagher, co-founder of the National Organization for Marriage, was impressed with the report, which she called, “a brilliant piece of work by two of the nation’s leading pro-marriage liberals,” in an article for Public Discourse.
“If a divorce can be prevented by creating a one-year waiting period and giving both spouses information on reconciliation, then it certainly is an unnecessary divorce. And according to recent studies, there are many divorces that could have been prevented in just this way,” Gallagher argued.
