Marriage and Divorce in Today's Society

Marriage and Divorce in Today's Society

A divorce case is contested if the parties cannot agree on every one of the issues involved in their particular situation. Common areas of disagreement include, but are not limited to: grounds for divorce, custody of the children, visitation rights, division of the assets of the marriage, child support, maintenance (alimony), payment of family debts, contribution toward educational expenses (college or parochial), payment of health insurance for the dependent spouse, income tax structuring, etc

When a divorce case is filed, it is given an identification number and is deemed by the court to be a matter that will ultimately require trial time in order to resolve all issues. Divorce cases are generally called for trial in the order in which they were filed.

A divorce case remains a "Contested Divorce" until each and every item is resolved. If, however, at any time during that period of the divorce case, the parties and their attorneys can reach an agreement on all of the issues, they can

then stipulate to the court to have the matters heard as an "Uncontested Divorce" (no fault divorce) matter. When this occurs, the court will accommodate the parties to the marriage and provide an expedited Hearing in which it will hear proof regarding the grounds of the divorce and the settlement of the divorce. If the standards of the court and the law are met, the court will approve the settlement and enter a divorce Judgment on that day or shortly thereafter.

Remember that, it is usually easier to marry than to divorce, especially if the spouses who wish to do so must divide their common property as well.

According to the Centre for Disease Control's National Vital Statistics Report of 2002, 50% of first marriages ended in divorce and 60% of remarriages end in divorce. But, the Centre for Disease Control also found that 96% of Americans express a personal desire for marriage, and almost three-quarters of Americans believe marriage is a life long commitment. I imagine that there are somewhat similar statistics worldwide.

With these kinds of statistics, its easy to see how complex it can be when people think they want a divorce, they have difficulty identifying how a truly viable

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