Support for Covenant Marriage Option

Item from the Smart Marriages Archive, reproduced in the Divorce Statistics Collectio n

Legislature Looks At Divorce Reform

Several Family Organizations Say They Will Support Marriage Covenant
Option

MINNEAPOLIS, Updated 11:31 a.m. CST January 5, 2000 -- Legislators held a
Capitol news conference Wednesday to announce a renewed effort to pass a
covenant marriage option in the Minnesota Legislature.

Republican Sen. Steve Dille of Dassel and Rep. Elaine Harder of Jackson
were joined by University of Minnesota Marriage and Family Therapy
Program Director Bill Doherty, Minnesota Family Council President Tom
Prichard and others supporting the legislation.

"I believe [it's] part of the solution to our crime problem, the problems
of welfare dependency, poor educational performance, poverty and also
some public health problems," Dille told WCCO-Radio.

The covenant marriage option legislation, which is already the law in
Louisiana and Arizona, would give couples, newly engaged and already
married, an alternative option to the current no-fault system.

Prichard said the marriage option is a response to society's misplaced
priorities.

"It's easier for a spouse to leave a 30-year marriage than break a $100
business agreement," Prichard said. "Society's priorities are misplaced
if we allow this situation to continue."

To qualify for a covenant marriage, the bill states that couples would
agree to 12 hours of premartial counseling, another 12 hours of
counseling if the marriage runs into trouble and a two-year waiting
period from separation to final divorce, WCCO-Radio reported.

The marriage option is not iron-clad, however.

In instances where adultery, abuse, abandonment for one year, or a felony
have been committed by one spouse, the other spouse may immediately seek
to dissolve the marriage.

"Covenant marriage legislation is a response to the increasing problem of
divorce in our culture," Prichard said. "Those from a divorced family
know firsthand the hurt and problems caused by divorce."

The Minnesota Family Council plans to support it in its newspaper mailed
to more than 20,000 homes across Minnesota.

The legislation is expected to be heard in both the Minnesota Senate and
House this session.

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