Married couples across the U.S. have had access to no-fault divorce for more than 50 years, an option seen by many as crucial to helping victims of domestic abuse and to already overcrowded family courts. It is key to avoid getting bogged down in complicated divorce proceedings.
But some advocates for women are worried now that Vice President-elect J.D. Vance’s old comments opposing no-fault divorce during the presidential campaign are making the rounds. And after President-elect Donald Trump and Vance won the election, warnings began pouring in on social media urging women to consider divorce while they still could. Some lawyers posted that they were seeing an increase in calls from women seeking divorce counseling.
Trump — who is twice divorced — has not supported changing the nation’s divorce laws, but in 2021 Vance lamented that divorce is too easily accessible. So have conservative podcasters and others.
“We’ve experienced this in real time and what we have is very real family dysfunction that is making our children unhappy,” Vance said during a speech at a Christian high school in California. “Changing husbands and wives as they change their underwear.”
Despite the concerns, even those who want to make divorce harder say they don’t expect big, rapid changes. There is no national coordinated effort. And states set their own divorce laws, so national leaders can’t change policy.
“Even in some of the so-called red states, it’s gotten nowhere,” said Beverly Willett, co-chair of the Coalition for Divorce Reform, a group that has lobbied states to repeal their no-fault divorce laws. Have tried unsuccessfully. .
Mark A. Smith, a professor of political science at the University of Washington, said that while many Americans have grown accustomed to no-fault divorce being an option, Vance’s previous comments made it more difficult to separate from a spouse. Donations can help kick-start this effort. .
“Even though he’s not proposing direct policy, it’s a topic that hasn’t been discussed a ton in the last 15 years,” Smith said. “And so it’s remarkable to have a national profile politician speak like that.”
Meanwhile, Republican Party platforms in Texas and Nebraska were amended in 2022 to call for an end to no-fault divorce. Louisiana’s Republican Party considered something similar earlier this year but ultimately declined to do so.
A handful of proposals have been introduced in conservative-led state houses over the years, but all stalled quickly after they were filed.
In January, Oklahoma Republican Sen. Dusty Devers introduced legislation that would have barred married couples from filing for divorce on grounds of incompatibility. Devers supported the bill after writing an op-ed that said no-fault divorce was an “absolution of the marital obligation.”
Similarly, in South Carolina, two Republican lawmakers filed a bill in 2023 that would require both spouses to file for a no-fault divorce instead of just one. And in South Dakota, a Republican lawmaker has sought to remove irreconcilable differences as grounds for divorce starting in 2020.
None of the sponsors of those bills responded to interview requests from The Associated Press. All are members of their state’s conservative Freedom Caucus.
The alarm went off.
Even so, some Democratic lawmakers say they remain concerned about the future of no-fault divorce. They point to America. The Supreme Court invalidated the constitutional right to abortion. 2022 as an example of a long-accepted option that was overturned by a decades-long effort.
“When you choose to be silent, you allow it in,” said Democratic South Dakota Representative Linda Duba. “These are bills that get a foothold because you choose to be silent.”
Joanna Grossman said that before California became the first state to adopt no-fault divorce in 1969, married couples had to prove that their spouse had an approved marriage described in their state’s divorce law. have violated one of the “faults” or risk having a judge deny their divorce. , professor of law at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Eligible causes vary from state to state, but generally include infidelity, imprisonment or desertion.
This system placed a particular burden on victims of domestic violence, often women, who could be trapped in precarious marriages while trying to prove their partner’s abuse in court through costly and lengthy legal proceedings.
“(Even) if there was any evidence that both couples wanted a divorce, it should have been dismissed because divorce wasn’t something you got because you wanted it, it was something you had to do.” “There was a sense that you were wronged in a way that the state’s thinking was important,” Grossman said.
“very upset”
To date, every state in the United States has adopted a no-fault divorce statute. However, 33 states still have a list of approved “wrongs” to file as grounds for divorce – ranging from adultery to felony convictions. In 17 states, married people only have the option to choose a no-fault divorce to end their marriages.
Calls for no-fault divorce reform were largely muted until the late 1990s, when former President George W. Bush’s administration called for states to adopt “contract marriages” out of concern over the nation’s divorce rate. A brief movement for This option did not replace the state’s no-fault divorce law, but provided an option for couples who met the counseling requirements and strict immunity to divorce.
Louisiana was the first state to adopt covenant marriage options, but the effort largely stalled after Arizona and Arkansas followed suit.
Christian F. Nunes, president of the National Organization for Women, said she was “deeply concerned” about the prospect of ending no-fault divorce with the incoming Trump administration, the Republican-controlled Congress and a wide range of conservative state leaders. are
“With so many states focusing on the misogynistic legislative agenda, it will turn back the clock on women’s rights even further,” Nunes said in a statement. “This is why eliminating ‘no-fault’ divorce is another way for the government to control women, their bodies, and their lives. Eliminating no-fault divorce would also eliminate same-sex marriage. There is a backdoor way of doing it, because it means that marriage is only between a man and a woman.”
After Trump’s re-election, Wilt, whose group opposes no-fault divorce, said he was cautiously optimistic that the political tide could turn.
“Was what he said a sign of things to come? I don’t know,” Willett said. “It’s a good thing but it’s certainly not something that’s talked about outside of some high-profile conservatives who talk about it.”