New York has long been an unusually expensive place to divorce (and I believe it has an artificially low divorce rate), because the state is one of the last states to do away with the requirement of finding fault. You may remember from a few days ago that New York Court of Appeals Chief Judge Judith Kaye called for no fault divorce in New York.
Now here’s Channel 7 Eyewitness News (WABC) signing in with its version of the story.
Here’s a piece of what reporter Stacy Sager said:
People who want to change the law here in New York argue that the way the system is right now divorce is a long, bitter drawn-out battle here in the courts, and expensive too. In some cases, the lawyers benefiting the most, in the end.
Here’s how it works – if you want your divorce you must claim one of these several grounds, all of them pretty unappealing. There’s cruel and inhuman treatment, abandonment or adultery or you must be legally separated for at least one year.
Isn’t it interesting to see the two perspectives coming together? We’ve got the covenante marriage movement working to make divorce harder, and this initiative in New York to make divorce (at least arguably) easier. One of the many reasons why I love my job, because I get to keep up with all of this!