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Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. [1] Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the bonds of matrimony between a married couple under the rule of law of the particular country or state.
No-fault divorce is the dissolution of a marriage that does not require a showing of wrongdoing by either party. [1] [2] Laws providing for no-fault divorce allow a family court to grant a divorce in response to a petition by either party of the marriage without requiring the petitioner to provide evidence that the defendant has committed a breach of the marital contract.
The road to Reno: A history of divorce in the United States (Greenwood Press, 1977) Chused, Richard H. Private acts in public places: A social history of divorce in the formative era of American family law (U of Pennsylvania Press, 1994) Griswold, Robert L. "The Evolution of the Doctrine of Mental Cruelty in Victorian American Divorce, 1790-1900."
Divorce laws have changed a great deal over the last few centuries. [10] Many of the grounds for divorce available in the United States today are rooted in the policies instated by early British rule. [11] Following the American Colonies' independence, each settlement generally determined its own acceptable grounds for divorce. [12]
Family courts were originally created to be a Court of Equity convened to decide matters and make orders in relation to family law, including custody of children, and could disregard certain legal requirements as long as the petitioner/plaintiff came into court with "clean hands" and the request was reasonable, "quantum meruit".
Estimates of the pro se rate of family law overall averaged 67% in California, 73% in Florida's large counties, and 70% in some Wisconsin counties. [1] In San Diego, for example, the number of divorce filings involving at least one pro se litigant rose from 46% in 1992 to 77% in 2000, in Florida from 66% in 1999 to 73% in 2001. [1]
Issues may arise in family law where there is a question as to the laws of the jurisdiction that apply to the marriage relationship or to custody and divorce, and whether a divorce or child custody order is recognized under the laws of another jurisdiction.
Legal separation (sometimes judicial separation, separate maintenance, divorce a mensa et thoro, or divorce from bed-and-board) is a legal process by which a married couple may formalize a de facto separation while remaining legally married. A legal separation is granted in the form of a court order.