The CDC (2017) reported that the divorce rate in America stood at approximately 3.2 couples in every 1000 married individuals. This statistic was however refuted by Pelley (2021) who argues that the estimate by the CDC is crude and too simplistic as it only takes into consideration the data from 44 states and is also defines divorce simplistically. A seemingly more accurate estimate given by Pelley is the estimate given by the American Survey Society in 2019, in which the divorce rate in the U.S was estimated at approximately 14. 9 divorces per 100 couples. The divorce rates are changing continuously, and the increasing rates are attributed to multiple reasons.
The courts in the U.S can grant divorce based on a series of reasons. Reeder Law Firm (2021) describes 12 different legal reasons based on which divorce could be granted. The reasons for requesting divorce may be more but the courts only grant divorce based on grounds considered to be legal reasons for divorce. The 12 reasons include adultery, bigamy, marriage between close relatives, importance at the time of entering into the marriage, physical and mental abuse, mental incapacity during the time of marriage, fraud to obtain the marriage, mental illness, criminal conviction, mental illness, desertion, and drug and alcohol addiction (Reeder Law Firm, 2021).
Indeed, divorce is a complex phenomenon that cannot be explained by only one theory. Pelley (2021) reported that divorce is a complex phenomenon that cannot be attributed to a single epistemological context. This basis is used to explain two aspects of divorce namely, the inability to ascribe a specific value to divorce statistics and the common flaws in defining divorce and its impacts on the children. For such an individual, it is relatively easy to mess up in the choice of a marital partner and to end up with someone with whom she is not compatible. As reported, incompatibility is one of the legal reasons for divorce in the contemporary society. If this has to be avoided, then the girl should be guided into knowing what is good for her, a process that should have began during her upbringing but was marred by her parents’ divorce. In case this guidance fails to happen completely, there is a high probability that she will end up as one of the statistics of divorces in the country, an outcome that may be associated with completely different epistemological underpinnings by those who do not understand her.
Page 51: No-Fault Divorce Laws and Other
Outside the 12 legal reasons for divorce, most states also offer no-fault divorces. These are divorces in which none of the 12 reasons can be cited yet the divorces still need to be filed on legal grounds (Reeder Law Firm, 2021). To file the divorces under legal grounds, three different terms may be used including incompatibility, irreconcilable differences, and irretrievable breakdown; these terms provide formal ways of asserting that the partners have such serious differences that have destroyed the marriage beyond repair, neither of you is to be faulted for the divorce, yet both of you still want to go ahead with the divorce (Reeder Law Firm, 2021). In the current times, no-fault divorces have become more common and are considered even simpler in terms of proceedings and faster as there is no burden of proof on either party (Reeder Law Firm, 2021). The trials for no-fault divorces are also faster and the processes generally cheaper than other legal forms of divorce.