Item from the Smart
Marriages Archive, reproduced in the Divorce Statistics
Collection
November 19, 2000
Committee fails to back covenant marriage bill
The Associated Press
A proposal to make covenant marriages part of Kansas law would do little
to reduce the divorce
rate and probably would create more problems than it would solve, a legislative
committee was
told Monday.
After listening to testimony from a law professor and an attorney, the Special
Committee on
Judiciary decided against recommending legislation similar to a covenant
marriage bill considered
by the 1998 Legislature but not passed.
That version would have given couples getting married the option of signing
a covenant marriage
contract. It would have stipulated that grounds for divorce would have to
be stated, preventing a
no-fault divorce. Those grounds would have included adultery, sexual or
physical abuse,
abandonment or cruelty, or committing a felony.
The committee decided to recommend to the 1999 Legislature that it consider
a measure that
could allow for some form of covenant marriages, but without any of the
required grounds for
divorce.
It also suggested lawmakers consider changing state law so couples facing
marital problems
could get reconciliation counseling.
One suggestion was that either the husband or wife could ask a court to
require the counseling. If
the court agreed, the husband and wife would attend the counseling sessions.
But if that didn't
resolve the problems, the couple could seek a divorce.
Speaking against the version considered last session was Nancy Maxwell,
Washburn University
law professor, who said people wanting a divorce will find ways to do it,
irrespective of legal
restrictions.
Also speaking against the proposal was Topeka attorney William Ebert, who
said it would "lead
to some absolutely disastrous results, especially with having specific grounds
for divorce."
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