Divorce

Divorce

Yasmina Ashraf

Sharjah American International School – Dubai

                                                           Abstract

 Divorce is a major issue that most of married couples all around the world face. Divorce is a legal action between married people to terminate their marriage relationship, and also goes by the “dissolution of marriage” by a court. Divorce has many types since each divorce differ from the other, considering the reason of divorce and the laws implied on it. The types include fault and no-Fault divorce, contested and uncontested divorce, summary divorce, default divorce, and mediated divorce. A divorcee, a divorced person, goes through a surge of questions by his/her friends and family about the divorce and the main one of course is “Why did you guys get a divorce?”, that is the million dollar question. There many issues that married couples go through that lead to a divorce. Researchers have determined the most common reasons that lead married couples to divorce is lack of commitment, too much arguing,  marrying too young, and abuse. These reasons may lead a couple to action in the divorce process, but some couples try to overcome these issues.0 how do individuals decide to remain married or divorced? Researchers have found that most couples decide on getting a divorced or remain to stay married is overviewing the rewards they gain from the marriage, the barriers against leaving the marriage, their perceptions about finding a better relationship, and the amount of investment they have made in their marriage. As mentioned above, one of the aspects a married couple contemplate before taking the decision of going through the divorce are the barriers against leaving the marriage. The biggest barrier are the couple’s children. It is known that the most people whom are affected by a divorce are the children.

     Divorce has been a prevailing issue all over the world lately. It is so common that the first thought in mind about a couple getting married is if they will end up getting divorced or actually last. Divorce is a legal action between married people to terminate their marriage relationship, and also goes by the “dissolution of marriage” by a court. Many questions come up when meeting a divorcee, like how it came about? What type of divorce is it? How are your children doing?        A divorce is a long, draining, and constitutional process which is why it needs to be seriously deliberated before proceeding with it.

     Divorce is the termination of a marriage, the canceling of a marriage, or the dissolution of a marriage under the laws of the government of wherever the couple lives in. Although divorce laws vary around the world, it can be physically and mentally draining for the couple. The legal process of a divorce includes issue such as alimony, the legal command of providing one another financially, child custody, parenting time, child support, and the distribution of property. Divorce is legal almost everywhere except for the Philippines and Vatican City.

      There many reasons of why a married couple got/ are trying to get a divorce. The most common and effective reason is the lack of commitment (73%). Lack of commitment leads to divorce because commitment is actually the biggest key to a marriage. Dr. Scott Stanley, a marriage researcher and therapist, defined commitment as having a long-term view of the marriage that helps us not get overwhelmed by the problems and challenges day to day. We keep our eyes focused on the valued prize—a healthy, stable marriage—and work to get there. Coming in the 2nd place is too much arguing (56%). Consistent arguing is very harmful to a relationship because it starts exceeding the limit of the amount of times the couple argues which gets boring and also the arguments start to be aggressive. As the arguments start to be aggressive, the couple decides to not communicate at all and that leads to even more serious conflicts. 46% of the people who married at a young age end up getting divorced. This is actually a deliberate problem that many people face. Marrying at a young age means less education; apparently, investing in education is a good way to build a foundation for a better marriage, not just a better job. It means less income. Finances can be stressful; obviously, having at least a modest income can help couples avoid stresses such as not being able to afford for a decent house, not being able to pay for house hold errands, and not being able to pay for their children’s needs that can lead to divorce. The last but not least is abuse. Abuse is the most provoking and violent reason a married couple can get divorced. Everybody has the right to be safe physically, emotionally, and sexually; therefore, Abuse in marriages deserves special consideration. There are two different types of abuse: “situational couple violence” and “intimate partner terrorism”.  Intimate partner terrorism is about domin

ation and control of one spouse by the other. Usually men are the ones whom are guilty of this type of abuse since most men seek and feel the need of power and control. Some also struggle with controlling their impulses and often behave maliciously towards women in general. Intimate partner terrorism can be physical or psychological control. It can involve severe economic control, such as not allowing a wife to have access to any money. Sometimes it involves almost completely isolating a wife from her family and friends. Sadly, this kind of abuse usually gets worse and more severe over time.

      There’s not just one way to divorce due to the differences in the law. Fault and No- Fault Divorce is either showing that the other spouse is at fault for causing the marriage at breaking down or briefly telling the court that the relationship suffered from “irreconcilable differences” or are not able to work out the marriage what so ever. Contested Divorce is when the couple constantly argue over property or child custody that they are not able to come to an agreement, so they take these issues to the judge to decide. The couple goes through process of exchanging information, settlement negotiations, and hearings. Uncontested Divorce is the most preferred way to divorce, the couple simply work together to agree on the terms of the divorce, and file court papers cooperatively to make the divorce happen. There will be no formal trial, and the couple probably won’t have to ever appear in court. In many states in the US, a specific divorce procedure is available for spouses that have were married for around five years or less, don’t own much property, don’t have children, and don’t have significant joint debts. This is a Summary Divorce. A summary (sometimes called simplified) divorce involves a lot less paperwork than other types of divorce. In fact, a few forms are often all it takes. In a Default Divorce, The court will grant a divorce by “default” if a spouse files for a divorce and the other spouse doesn’t respond. The divorce is granted even though the other spouse doesn’t participate in the court proceedings at all. The last type of divorce to be discussed is Mediated Divorce. In divorce mediation, a neutral third party, called a mediator, sits down with the couple to try to help them resolve all of the issues in the divorce. The mediator doesn’t make any decisions; that’s up to the couple. Instead, the mediator helps them communicate with each other until they can come to an agreement.