Bill mandates class for divorcing couples

LANSING -- Divorcing couples in Michigan who have children would be required to take a class on the consequences under legislation that passed the state House on Wednesday.

It's part of a package of bills headed to the state Senate that supporters say will help preserve families and marriage in Michigan.

An increased divorce rate is a driving force behind the initiative, supporters say. Nearly half of first marriages fail, and about four of every 10 children have divorced parents.

"This bill is very important for children," said state Rep. Joanne Voorhees, R-Wyoming, who sponsored one of the bills in the package. "Parents need to know the effect their divorce will have on their children."

http://www.freep.com/news/mich/div20_20040520.htm

These people don't give two shits about smaller government. They want to legislate morality and control our choices.

tisk tisk..........all that money for classes, our tax dollars.

... just passing a law made things go away?

... throwing money at an issue resolves it?

Legislating morality & personal behaviour, how crazy can one get?

since Reagan was first gov to sign a law okaying 'no fault' divorce
:crazy:

BEFORE you get married be a lot more effective in reducing the divorce rate?

They just lie like Nazis and pretend they are the opposite of what they are!

It's a good thing. I've been through their course and learned a lot - stuff you might not think of (eg. help the kids celebrate ex-spouse's birthday, Christmas presents etc.)

this is a great idea.

if the split is mutually amicable. For many years I did stuff like that, but my ex- still treated me like shit. So I finally gave up.

Taking classes won't stop divorce. Taking classes won't help a marriage. It takes two people who are totally committed to each other to make a marriage work. Without that, there's nothing you can do.

Except suffer and make everyone around you miserable.

I think this is just more hypocrisy from the serial monogamists in the Republican Party.

Kids have an interest in the marriage and thus should be represented by making them take a class.

But I still say it's bizarre, considering...

... other than the Totalitarian approach to it...

but wouldn't it be better to make MARRIED couples take a class about HAVING kids before they actually conceive... AND cover the problems of divorce at that time, instead of waiting for the dam to burst?

<wink>

Why shouldn't they tell us how to run our lives? :shrug:

would probably cut the divorce rate 75 percent.

Here's the rules:
A couple considering marriage will be granted a Cohabitation License. No later than 14 days after the issuance of this license, a joint household will be established. (The cohabitation license is not mandatory unless the couple intends to marry; if a long-term cohabiting couple decides to marry, they still need this license and the 36-month waiting period.)

Any children produced during this period will be under the custody of the mother but in the case of the cohabitation being terminated before the end of the three years, the father will pay child support. However, birth control is highly encouraged.

No joint property will be procured unless the couple establishes a separation plan for it in the case of the termination of the cohabitation.

The intent of all this is to make it as easy as possible to terminate the cohabitation agreement.

The agreement can be terminated with a simple phone call or visit to a Web site.

Since most of the people who get divorced do it in the first three years of their marriage, making them live together for three years before they're married will get this breaking-up shit out of their system.

The fundies will call it a sin. It's less of a sin this way than to drag two or three kids through a painful divorce because their parents should have married other people in the first place.