Pregnancy Can’t Bar Divorce

The Washington state legislature is considering legislation that would clarify that women who are pregnant can get a divorce. Here’s the article from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The bill became necessary in response to some judges in Washington state who had interpreted state law to mean they could deny divorce when the wife was pregnant.

In Alabama, despite the advice that some lawyers give to the contrary, our courts routinely permit divorce when the wife is pregnant. The court will simply reserve for all issues involving the paternity, custody, support, and visitation of the unborn child. I’ve never had any court try to say that divorce couldn’t be granted to parents because they are expecting a child.

This being true, I do often encourage couples with a child on the way to wait until the child is born, healthy, and has a Social Security number to get divorced. The alternative is to pay me twice – once now, and then again when the child is here.

One thought on “Pregnancy Can’t Bar Divorce”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *