Divorce

Before the twentieth century, divorce was not a common practice. Even now there are countries, like the Philippines and Malta where divorce is not permitted. In the twentieth century, divorces have increased manifold. The United States, Canada, West Europe and Japan are frontrunners in the number of law legal divorces.

Generally, there are two types of divorce law action in the United States. They are no-fault divorce and at-fault divorce. In a no-fault divorce action, no reason for dissolution is to be shown in an application for divorce. According to the divorce laws in most of states in the US an application for dissolution can be moved by either of the parties, or jointly. New York is the only state where no-fault divorce is not permitted. A reason, or reasons, for dissolution is to be shown in the application. Such requests for dissolution are called at-fault divorces.

In an at-fault divorce action, defense is possible, but very expensive. In an at-fault action it can be successfully defended if condonation, connivance, provocation or collusion can be proven. But few of the applications are contested because of the costs and almost all applications are granted. Whatever may be the type of divorce action, there are some other relevant matters to be settled along with the dissolution. They are the custody of children, dividing the assets among the spouses and apportioning the debts among them. These are to be decided at the court. The government is also interested in matters concerning children. All states of the United States have made it mandatory to present a parenting plan in the courts on separation. It is recommend to use a divorce lawyer to be sure all bases are covered and you neither party gets burned.

Divorces existed in ancient civilizations. They were not as common as today. The Mesopotomians, the Athenians and the Egyptians had divorces among them. But they had to be granted by a legal authority like a magistrate. In the Roman Empire it was not a common practice to have divorces. But later when the empire grew in power and influence, it adopted the practices of other civilizations. When they started framing their civil laws, very liberal terms were adopted for dissolution of marriage in the name of personal freedom. Both the spouses were granted the right to ask for a divorce.

Emperor Constantine restricted the grounds of dissolution to a few. Emperors Theodosius and Justinian brought more restrictions. The decline of the Roman Empire started during the period of Justinian itself. By the ninth century, the Christian clergy took on itself the responsibility of ethical laws and brought under them the institution of marriage. They ruled that marriage is a holy sacrament and is instituted by God. So it cannot be annulled. The Church prohibited the remarriage of any of the spouses. They were allowed to live apart but their marriage was never dissolved. Now, a long time has passed and in almost all nations in the world the responsibility of dissolution and welfare of the children are taken over by the states.