Want to Preserve Marriages? Require a 1-Year Wait for Divorce, Reconciliation Education, Op-Ed Says
The former chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court says states may be able to preserve more marriages by passing a uniform law that imposes a one-year wait for divorce.
Writing in the Washington Post, former Justice Leah Ward Sears says the conventional wisdom that most divorcing couples had high conflict in their marriages is wrong. She cites research showing that 50 percent to 66 percent of divorces occur between couples who had average happiness and low levels of conflict before the split. These “average” divorces with the greatest potential for reconciliation harm children the most, the article says.
Sears writes the op-ed with University of Minnesota social science professor William Doherty, who surveyed 2,500 parents in Minnesota who were far along in the divorce process. His research team found that in 10 percent of the cases, both spouses were open to efforts to reconcile, and in 30 percent of the cases, one spouse was interested in reconciliation.
Sears and Doherty say states could support marriages by enacting the Second Chances Act. It requires a minimum one-year wait for divorce and parental education before the divorce filing. Parents would be told of a nonadversarial approach to divorce, and would learn about the option of reconciliation. The waiting period could be waived in cases of abuse.
“We now know that a significant number of divorces may be preventable,” write Doherty and Sears, who is now a partner at Schiff Hardin. “This modest reform could spare many couples and children the pain of an unnecessary divorce.”
