In the United States, marriage and divorce fall under the jurisdiction of state governments, not the federal government. Divorce may involve issues of spousal support, child custody, child support, distribution of property and division of debt.
History Colonial and revolutionary period The British colonies that became the United States individually adapted English common law on divorce to their religious, economic, and ethnic differences. At the time, divorce in England was rare and expensive, and applicants were required to petition Parliament or an ecclesiastical court to obtain a divorce.
The New England Colonies, viewing marriage as a civil contract, were the most likely to grant divorces, given sufficient cause. Between 1692 and 1786, only 90 divorces were granted in England and Wales, while 143 were granted in Massachusetts. The Southern Colonies, on the other hand, hewed more closely to English practice and seldom granted divorces.
The tension between colonial legislatures and Parliament included dissension on the grounds and accessibility of divorce, with Parliament invalidating divorces granted in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New Hampshire. In 1773, the royal governors were ordered to deny approval to any divorce acts passed by colonial legislatures.
After the colonies gained independence, states joining the union liberalized their divorce laws, as did the associated territories, with many permitting local courts to grant divorce. A few retained authority to grant divorce at the state level. In Virginia, for example, petitioners had to apply to the Virginia General Assembly for a divorce, and during the first thirty years of statehood, no female petitioner was granted a divorce.
19th century By the mid- to late 19th century, divorce rates in the United States increased, and Americans obtained more divorces annually than were granted in all of Europe. Previously, divorces in the US were mainly granted to the middle and upper-classes due to their cost, but the legal process became less expensive. Other proposed explanations include the popular acceptance of divorce as an alternative to marital unhappiness, decay of the belief in immortality and future punishment, discontent with the existing constitution of society, the habits of mobility created by better transportation, and the greater independence of women resulting in their enlarged legal rights and greater opportunities of self support. The divorce rate continued to increase in the early 20th century. In 1890, 3 couples per 1,000 were divorced, rising to 8 couples by 1920.
The Married Women's Property Acts in the United States were passed by the various states to give greater property rights to women and, in some cases, allowing them to sue for divorce.
The women's rights movement debated the issue of whether to allow divorce, with Jane Swisshelm and Elizabeth Cady Stanton as early supporters, with Horace Greeley and Antoinette Brown Blackwell opposed. Unlike other issues, the movement was unable to achieve agreement. Stanton eventually came to see marriage law reform as more important than women's voting rights.Hays, Elinor Rice. Morning Star: A Biography of Lucy Stone 1818–1893. Harcourt, Brace & World, 1961. at p. 168 Against Stanton, Lucy Stone sought to remove the advocacy of divorce from the women's platform to prevent the appearance of moral laxity. In government, Robert Dale Owen proposed laws granting greater freedom of divorce, which later came to fruition. The National Woman Suffrage Association, founded in 1869, included advocacy for divorce reform.
20th century Prior to the latter decades of the 20th century, divorce was considered to be against the public interest, and civil courts refused to grant a divorce except if one party to the marriage had betrayed the "innocent spouse." Thus, a spouse suing for divorce in most states had to show a "fault" such as abandonment, cruelty, incurable mental illness, or adultery. If an "innocent" husband and wife wished to separate, or if both were guilty, "neither would be allowed to escape the bonds of marriage."Kent's Commentaries on American Law, p. 401. Divorce was barred if evidence revealed any hint of complicity between spouses to manufacture grounds for divorce, such as if the suing party engaged in procurement or connivance (contributing to the fault, such as by arranging for adultery), condonation (forgiving the fault either explicitly or by continuing to cohabit after knowing of it), or recrimination (the suing spouse also being guilty).
Divorce is governed by state rather than federal law, and a number of strategies were devised in several states to make divorce easier. By 1909, Reno, Nevada, was "the divorce capital of the world." At that time, only six months in Nevada established state residency, and the Nevada courts, well aware of the contribution of divorce seekers to Nevada's hospitality industry, accepted the resident's uncorroborated assertion of grounds for divorce, usually "extreme cruelty". In 1927, the Nevada Legislature, "in response to a perceived threat to Reno's divorce supremacy from France and Mexico and a divorce-trade war that had been going on since the end of World War I between Nevada, Idaho, and Arkansas," lowered the residency period to three months, and in 1931 the Legislature that voted for "wide-open gambling" lowered it to six weeks.Reno Divorce History, "Laws of the Land", http://renodivorcehistory.org/themes/law-of-the-land/, consulted July 28, 2017. Providing accommodations and other amenities for visitors, who could not leave Nevada during the six weeks, became a major Reno industry; greeters met the arriving trains, and there were a variety of divorce ranches. In 1942, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Williams v. North Carolina that other states had to recognize these divorces, under the "full faith and credit" clause of the U.S. Constitution.
By 1916, the U.S. led the world in number of divorces.Margorie Engel, Divorce Help Sourcebook, Visible Ink Press, 1994, , cited in "The History of Divorce: How It Continues To Affect You," http://www.lifemanagement.com/fsa8.2.1137/ , retrieved 29 July 2017. In populous New York State, where adultery was the easiest grounds for divorce, attorneys would provide a divorce package of a prostitute and a photographer. Significant numbers of divorce seekers went to the cities on the Mexican side of the Mexico-U.S. border, or to Haiti, where they found welcoming attorneys, who sometimes advertised in the U.S.A. Memory of the practice is reflected in the song "Haitian Divorce," by Steely Dan.
By the 1960s, deception to bypass the fault system had become a widespread concern, if not actually a widespread practice, and a consensus grew for change. The National Association of Women Lawyers was instrumental in convincing the American Bar Association to create a Family Law section in many state courts, and pushed strongly for no-fault divorce law around 1960 (cf. Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act). In 1969, California became the first U.S. state to pass a no-fault divorce law.
The introduction of no-fault divorce led to a rise in divorce rates in the United States during the 1970s. The National Center for Health Statistics reported that from 1975 to 1988 in the US, in families with children present, wives filed for divorce in approximately two-thirds of cases. In 1975, 71.4% of the cases were filed by women, and in 1988, 65% were filed by women. However, some states placed restriction on divorce during the same period. For example, Missouri in 1973, the same year no-fault divorce was passed in the state, passed a statute that prevented divorce during pregnancy. The initial intention was to ensure the mother received financial support after the birth of the child, but in practice the law kept pregnant women in abusive environments longer.
Lenore Weitzman's 1985 book The Divorce Revolution, using data from California in 1977-78, reported that one year after divorce, the standard of living for women declined 73%, compared with an increase of 42% for men. Richard Peterson calls Weitzman's methodology into question, using the same data to calculate a 27% decrease for women and a 10% increase for men.
21st century The median length for a marriage in the US is 11 years , with 90% of divorces settled out of court. Lower-income couples are more likely to get a divorce than higher-income couples. By the seventh wedding anniversary, the divorce rate among highly educated people who married in the early 2000s is 11%, while that for couples without college degrees is 17%.
In 2015, the Manhattan Supreme Court ruled that, in the case of a husband and wife who did not live together, where the husband had no fixed physical address where divorce papers could be served and where the husband had no written contact with his wife other than through Facebook, the wife could serve her husband divorce papers through a Facebook message, and she became the first to do so.
Law
Divorce in the U.S. is governed by state rather than federal law. The laws of the states of residence at the time of divorce govern, not those of the location where the couple was married. All states recognize divorces granted by any other state, and all impose a minimum time of residence to file for a divorce, Nevada and Idaho currently being the shortest at six weeks.
All states allow no-fault divorce on grounds such as irreconcilable differences, irremediable breakdown, and loss of affection. Some states mandate a separation period before no-fault divorce. Mississippi, South Dakota and Tennessee are the only states that require mutual consent for no-fault divorce. The rest of the states permit unilateral no-fault divorce.
Since the mid-1990s, three states have enacted covenant marriage laws which give couples the option to make divorce more difficult: Louisiana, Arkansas, and Arizona. For example, couples who choose covenant marriage may be required to undergo counseling before a divorce can be granted, or to submit their conflicts to mediation. In states lacking such provisions, some couples sign contracts undertaking the same obligations.
A summary (or simple) divorce, available in some jurisdictions, is used when spouses meet certain eligibility requirements, or can agree on key issues beforehand. For example, to qualify for summary divorce in California, a couple must meet all of the following requirements: Have been married less than five years, Have no children together, Do not own any real property, Do not rent any real property other than current dwelling, Do not owe more than $6,000 for debts since date of marriage, Own less than $41,000 in community property (property acquired during marriage), not counting vehicles, Do not own more than $41,000 in separate property (property acquired before marriage), not counting vehicles, Agree to forgo spousal support, Have a signed agreement which divides property (including cars) and debts, and Meet residency requirement if applicable.
Grounds for divorce
Though divorce laws vary between jurisdiction, there are two basic approaches to divorce: fault-based and no-fault. Fault grounds, when available, are sometimes still sought. This may be done where it reduces the waiting period otherwise required, or possibly in hopes of affecting decisions related to a divorce, such as child custody, child support, alimony, and so on. A court may still take into account the behavior of the parties when dividing property, debts, evaluating custody, and support. States vary in the admissibility of such evidence for those decisions.
No-fault divorce