Texas Divorce Tips
One divorce attorney's reactions to family law issues.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Question from Seminary #3
I was recently invited to speak to the counseling class at Dallas Theological Seminary, and here's another of the questions they submitted in advance:
What are the most common building blocks of a "covenant marriage" in the states that have them? How popular are they? If some couple wanted to construct such a marriage contract here, how would they piece one together? Again, pros/cons?
Again, I'm a low-level practitioner, not a high-level theorist, so I haven't studied what other states are doing. I have no idea how popular they are. I'm vaguely and mildly opposed to covenant marriage, as it tries to impart to temporal government enforcement of a spiritual agreement. State legislatures generally don't do a good job of enforcing spiritual and personal covenants. Can you imagine going to court and having a jury trial over the issue of whether you were "cherished" or "honored"?
There's a lot more to contract law than simply saying what happens when it's over, and specifying damages. It also provides for damages before it's over, such as specific performance (you have to deliver the bowling balls I ordered, even if it means that you get them from somewhere else). But we don't enforce anything else from a covenant marriage, such as what happens if husband spends too much time at work, or if wife is no longer interested in sex.
Having said that, I believe that covenant marriages will produce a lot more money for divorce lawyers by prolonging and complicating the divorce process. Unfortunately, it will also be at the expense of those who need to break away from a loser/addict/quitter and start over.
I don't know how one would piece together an enforceable contract that would simply make divorce more time-consuming, complicated, and expensive. But you could probably insert some sort of economic penalty clause (e.g., we agree that either party files for divorce, they only get 35% of the community property estate, unless they can show addiction, adultery, compulsive dissipation of assets, physical abuse ...)
What are the most common building blocks of a "covenant marriage" in the states that have them? How popular are they? If some couple wanted to construct such a marriage contract here, how would they piece one together? Again, pros/cons?
Again, I'm a low-level practitioner, not a high-level theorist, so I haven't studied what other states are doing. I have no idea how popular they are. I'm vaguely and mildly opposed to covenant marriage, as it tries to impart to temporal government enforcement of a spiritual agreement. State legislatures generally don't do a good job of enforcing spiritual and personal covenants. Can you imagine going to court and having a jury trial over the issue of whether you were "cherished" or "honored"?
There's a lot more to contract law than simply saying what happens when it's over, and specifying damages. It also provides for damages before it's over, such as specific performance (you have to deliver the bowling balls I ordered, even if it means that you get them from somewhere else). But we don't enforce anything else from a covenant marriage, such as what happens if husband spends too much time at work, or if wife is no longer interested in sex.
Having said that, I believe that covenant marriages will produce a lot more money for divorce lawyers by prolonging and complicating the divorce process. Unfortunately, it will also be at the expense of those who need to break away from a loser/addict/quitter and start over.
I don't know how one would piece together an enforceable contract that would simply make divorce more time-consuming, complicated, and expensive. But you could probably insert some sort of economic penalty clause (e.g., we agree that either party files for divorce, they only get 35% of the community property estate, unless they can show addiction, adultery, compulsive dissipation of assets, physical abuse ...)
Labels: contract marriage, covenant divorce, covenant marriage, divorce contract
posted by Hal Davis | 6:10 AM
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