‘So are you sitting next to President Obama or may I join you?’ –Steven Amiri
Nowhere in the United States do you have the right to credibly contract for a lifetime marital partnership.
Every state currently allows some form of “no fault” divorce - divorce not based on any wrongdoing of a party, but simply because the parties claim they don’t want to be married anymore. Even though the couple may “vow” to remain together until one of them dies, everyone knows these vows have no legal or real-world effect. The marital “contract” is not a contract at all.
Imagine a regular legal contract in which either party could end the agreement by saying he didn’t like it anymore. […]
Marriage once did have a legal effect - once married, parties could not divorce without a really good reason (physical cruelty, desertion, or adultery). Not coincidentally, marriages were much more likely to be reliable lifetime partnerships.
photo { Sam Haskins }
