MENACE TO AMERICA'S FAMILY LIFE

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25160, 24 March 1945, Page 10

MENACE TO AMERICA'S FAMILY LIFE

"CRAZY QUILT" OF DIVORCE LAWS

By A. D. ROTHMAN, Special Correspondent in Washington

WASHINGTON, March 20 Divorce is increasing in the United States at such a headlong pace that the Census Bureau estimates that by 1965 as many aa 51 per cent of American marriages may have been broken up, in spite of the constant tightening of divorce laws Senator Arthur Capper, Kansas Republican, recently stated that more than zO years have passed sinca he first introduced into Congress proposals for the reform of American divorce laws. In the Senate the other day he brought forward his latest proposal for Constitutional amendment, designed to pror-ide uniform marriage and divorce faws throughout the nation, with the observation that a Federal law might not curb the growing trend toward divorce, but would protect children and their property rights, and also end much contusion. A brief study of the American divorce law situation is sufficient to show that when Senator Capper speaks of "confusion'' he is using a comparatively mild term. United State's Statistics - Statistics brand the United States as the greatest divorce mart in the Christian world. Mohammedan areas have something of an advantage over Christian areas, in that males in Islam are able to rid themselves of a troublesome spouse by the simple expedient of thrice repeating "I divorce you."' However, American women are in.a better position than the Mohammedan's wife, who is uhable to get a divorce at all. Divorces have risen in the United States from 72,062 in 1906 to 264.000 in 1940, and Government statisticians unofficially estimate that they may reach 450,000 next year. Divorce in the United States is at once an easy and a difficult matter. Divorce law has been described as a 48piece crazy quilt, for thei'e are 47 States, each with its individual formula for the obtaining of divorce, and one —South Carolina—with no divorce law at all. - Obtaining a divorce is easy if vou happen to live in one of the "divorce mill" States like Nevada or Florida, or if you have the time and money to establish legal residence there, ft is

difficult if you live in New York, where there is but one ground for divorce —adultery. It is impossible if you live in South Carolina and cannot get away from it. The best you can do there is get a legal separation. There are 14 grounds for divorce in New Hampshire, which, like Kentucky, concedes the right to end a marriage if the spouse joins the Shakers' religious sect of celibates of both sexes, founded about 1776. In Louisiana, divorce is obtainable on .the grounds of defamation of character or "condemnation to an infamous punishment." Kemarrlage Prohibited In Mississippi, in the case of a divorce granted for adultery, the Court may prohibit the remarriage of the guilty party, while in New York the guilty party is unable to remarry legally within the State unless the Court which granted the divorce grants permission to remarry. The permit is contingent upon three years' uniformly l good conduct. Those are just some of the more notable features of some State laws. In other directions there is considerable room for improvement. For instance, residential qualifications vary from Nevada's six weeks, Arkansas and Wyoming's 60 days, and Florida's 95 days, up to one or two years in most other States and three years in Connecticut. Then again, few States agree on the time element where desertion or "habitual" drunkenness or insanity are considered grounds for divorce. The net result of all this is something worse than confusion. With American citizens free to move about and change their residence at will from State to State, their marital status and the status of their children vary with every movement, permanent or temporary. Thus, the Reno divorce of a New York resident may be declared invalid in New York after the person to whom the divorce has been granted has again taken up residence in New York, and perhaps remarried, with children of the -econd marriage. New York would then regard the second marriage as bigamous and the children as illegitimate, while Nevada, considered everything all right..

A divorce may be legal in the State where it is granted, btit_ subject to 48 different- interpretations in the United States alone. On this and other facts the National Divorce Reform League bases a fantastic hypothetical case, by pointing out that until quite recently it was legally possible for an American man to have 49 wives at- one and the same time, yet not be a bigamist. This is how they work it Bill Casanova reaches the age of 21 in South Carolina, quickly _ marries a local girl, then goes to Maine, where, after the year's required residence,_ he obtains a divorce and marries a Maine girl. South Carolina will not recognise the divorce. The man then goes to New Hampshire, where he divorces the Maine girl and marries a New Hampshire resident. Repeating the process, he moves on from State to State, being careful not to re-enter any State where he has previously heen. By the time Bill Casanova has covered all the States with the allotted time for, residential requirements for divorce in each he is S3 years old, with 48 legal wives. He then goes to the National Capital Federal district for wife No. 49, wnere he settles down for the rest of his life with a wife in every State arid one in the capital. Reno's "Tourist Attraction" This amazingly anomalous situation changed somewhat recently when the United States Supreme Court held that States must recognise the divorces of other States where the petitioner has established legal "domicile." Thus, Reno divorces became valid throughout the United States except where challenged on the ground that residence or domicile was fraudulent. An instance of the exception was New York's refusal to recognise a New York woman's Reno divorce when evidence showed she had continued to pay n New York apartment rent in her absence, besides travelling to Reno on a return ticket. Reno has always been popular for divorce seekers, because the Nevada Legislature made divorce easy and private. It - did this for frankly commercial reasons, to attract a sort of tourist business. Throughout the United States today there may be thousands of divorcees whose quick and easy divorces could be invalidated if challenged. There are perhaps more children whose legitimacy as a, result could be open to question. It is to bring order out of this chaos that Senator Capper seeks an amendment to the Constitution. Whether he «ill now have success where he failed in the past is problematical.