While divorce today has bec’ome rather common, it was on’ce considered a taboo pra’ctice—prohibited by law in m’uch of recorded history. An’d while there were some exceptions to t’his ancient rule, divorces w’ere very rare and difficult to ob’tain—especially for women. Let’s take a look at divorce laws in t’he United States in particular, and ho’w these laws have changed over ti’me.
Colonial Divorce Law
One of the first docume’nts of divorce law in North America originates in the Colo’ny of Massachusetts Ba’y. He’re, the colonists establish’ed a judicial tribunal to rule ‘on divorce proceedings. As m’entioned earlier, divorces during this ti’me period were rare, and for th’e most part, illegal; however, th’e judicial tribunal allowed f’or some exceptions and gran’ted divorces in cases of adultery, des’ertion, bigamy, and impot’ence.
In fact, Annie’s Group®, SAS for Women’s signature group coa’ching program for women thin’king about or beginning a divorce’, is named after Anne Cla’rke, a resident of the Massachus’etts Bay Colony, who, on January 5, 1643, was granted the first reco’rded legal divorce in the A’merican colonies by the Quarter Court of Boston. In Anne’s case, s’he was granted a divorce on th’e grounds of adultery—committe’d by her ex-husband, Dennis Clarke. H’e even admitted to the adultery in a signed affidavit, stating that he ab’andoned his wife a’nd two children, for another wo’man (whom he also had two chil’dren with). Accordingly, one m’ight say that the betrayal of infidelity is rooted in American hist’ory.
The women of colonial tim’es endured even further har’dships in the case of divorce. Befo’re the Married Women’s Prop’erty Acts were passed in 1848, married women had virtually n’o legal rights—to own property, acquire financial assets, or even fo’rm binding contracts. Such sev’ere consequences made the pr’actice of divorce utterly unfeasible for women. While the Mar’ried Women’s Property Acts w’ent to correct some of these adver’sities, women remained notorio’usly disadvantaged in divo’rce proceedings for quite som’e time.
The Rise of Divorce
At the end of the 18th cent’ury, “divorce mill” states beg’an to surface around the nat’ion. These were states that allow’ed divorces—including for out-of-s’tate couples. This in turn led to su’ch increases in divorce cas’es that Congress compiled the fir’st set of divorce statistics in 1887, while elsewhere, there were ad’ditional, social reactions.
In 1903, the Inter-Chur’ch Conference on Marriage ‘and Divorce was held due t’o a concern about the growing num’ber of divorce cases in the U.S. Ho’wever, the Conference’s efforts w’ere unsuccessful as the senti’ment toward divorce began to shi’ft in favor of the practice. Th’e concept of “trial marriages” also emerged in the 1920s, which allowed co’uples to try their marriage—without the legal implicatio’ns of actually being married. Ulti’mately, trial marriages signified an’other failed attempt in history to reduce the number of divorces in the U.S.
Surprisingly, up until the 1950s, a’ll divorces were tried through t’he traditional court system. How’ever, as divorce rates in the U.S. be’gan to rise, this began to burden th’e efficiency of the court system. I’n response, the Family Court sys’tem was created to specifically ha’ndle divorces and other fam’ily law-related matters.
The Rise of No-Fault Divorces
However, possibly the most no’table change in divorce law occurred in the 1970s—w’ith the enactment of no-fau’lt divorce laws.
Before this, a spouse had to b’e at fault in order for a divorce to be granted. By this, I mean th’at the filing spouse needed a legit’imate reason—and evidence of it—to effectively end the marr’iage (and, being unhappy didn’t count f’or one). Luckily though, that ‘all began to change when California signed the first no-fault divorce b’ill in 1969, and finally, spouses n’o longer needed to show cause to file for divorce. One by one, each sta’te followed California’s lead an’d no-fault divorces became the ne’w legal standard in America.
Divorce Laws Today
All these historic chan’ges in divorce law, often reflecting the growing rights of women i’n the U.S., have led us to the divorce system we know toda’y.
Divorce laws vary from sta’te to state in the United States, b’ut all states have adopted some fo’rm of no-fault divorce legislation—with the stigma surrounding div’orce ceasing to exist—at least leg’ally. While there are no longer an’y legal restraints to filing for divorce in the United States, this is not to sa’y that the process has gotten sub’stantially easier. The’ decision alone remains a diffic’ult one—especially in cases with chil’dren involved, while the cost of getting a divorce (and rebuilding afte’rward) has also increased. For m’ore on this, consider reading “How Much Will My Divorce Cost Me – Emotionally and Legally?” a’nd/or watch “Should You or Shouldn’t You Divorce?”
Clearly, divorce laws in th’e U.S. have come a long way sin’ce the colonial era, but only tim’e will tell how divorce laws will ev’olve in the years to come. We hope to’ see advancements with the ri’ghts of women and not more setb’acks; and with more advanceme nt of women’s rights, more advancements with divorce laws that will address the curr ent flaws in our divorce system—wh’ile continuing to support a fa’ir and equal process for both par’ties.
