Three states have provided an option for couples who are wanting to get married to get married under the "covenant marriage." The covenant marriage makes it harder to get a divorce, leaving it down to only three acceptable reasons: abuse, whether it be of a spouse of a child, one of the spouses being sent to prison for a felony, or adultery. The law is completely optional, but it's hope is to cut down on the divorce rate.
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While the concept is good, I don't think it will make a difference. In Ireland, divorce is illegal. So, they get what has come to be known as an "Irish divorce." They just stop living together. They often feel free to begin new relationships with others, as well. The marriage is effectively over, but there is no divorce. This isn't really going to offer a woman financial protection. At least with a divorce, marital property is divided and the non-custodial parent is ordered to pay child support. When one spouse just moves out, you can get a support order, but you can't really force a split of the marital assets.
Edited: tenaheff on 5th Jan, 2005 - 1:41am
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As a law, I think it is about worthless. As a concept, it is very important.
I don't believe that the "law" should have very much, if anything, to do with marriage. Marriage is primarily a religious institution, not a state institution.
How could a state enforce such a thing? If the couple moved out of state, say to Nevada, and then divorced, what is to stop them? Yes, it would work within the state, but that is as far as it goes.
Within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we have always had the concept of "covenant marriage". For a very long time, it worked extremely well. Then, about the 1950s or 1960s, our culture began to more fully embrace the common culture of the US. We went from under 10% (probably lower, about 1%) divorce rates to the national average, about 25%.
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