With great regularilty, bills are introduced into our state legislature that would make Texas return to the "fault-only" basis for granting a divorce. Each time the bills are defeated, but it makes one wonder what would happen if such a bill did pass in the modern era. The motivation behind such bills are clear- the proposal is an attempt to reduce the number of divorces by making it more difficult to obtain one- in the hope that parties will reconsider their action. But would the amount of divorces really go down?
I certainly don't think so. I think that most people will lie or at least exaggerate their circumstance to get what they want- a permanent, legal divorce.
Take the case of Great Britain. They do not have "no fault" divorce. There, divorces are granted only if the moving party can show that the spouse has engaged in some "unreasonable behavior"- although there is no legal definition for that term. Basically, Brits must come up with a reason- any reason- for divorcing, and our usually conservative cousins across the pond can prove to be quite imaginative in their reasons. A recent study has shown some of the most popular grounds for divorce in Great Britain. They include every kind of annoyance-even if the behavior is seen by others as healthy or positive. This includes seek divorce because the partner has become a fanatical cyclist or has started going to the gym every day, or has suddenly given up dairy and gluten.
Here then are the top ten reasons given for divorcing in Great Britain:
1. A partner's illness
2. Snoring
3. Going to the gym too much
4. Being ungrateful for all the work their partner does
5. Being hopeless with money
6. Disagreement over respective politics
7. Food fanaticism
8. Fishing
9. Sex- either not enough, being offered too much, or loss of interest
10. Suspicion the other party is messing around
If Texas ever returned to a fault based divorce system, I wonder how creative our "top ten list" would be?
