Marriage and Family Courts

What are courts doing to heal and strengthen marriages?

This site is dedicated to gathering the latest information on efforts by the courts and the legal profession to heal and strengthen marriages. I don't yet know of many such efforts, but I know they are needed, and in order to advocate for them we need to know what people out there are already doing.

If you know of any such program or effort -- at any stage of development -- please post a comment on this site to tell me -- and the rest of the word -- about it. Check the comment section to see what others have written.

If you want to write to me privately, my e-mail is crouch@patriot.net. However, that address is heavily spammed and heavily spam-filtered, so your message might get lost. You can always get in touch with me by posting a comment on this site or calling me at 703-528-6700.

Please do not use this site for political debates such as gay-marriage issues, etc.

-- John Crouch
-- A pro-marriage divorce lawyer in Arlington, Virginia

Australia’s New Family Relationship Centres and Referral System

As far back as 1999, according to Australian marriage educator Margaret Andrews, “More than one-quarter of all couples marrying in Australia participate in some form of marriage education. … more than 100 agencies and groups throughout Australia offer Marriage  Education programs, many of which are partially funded by the Federal Government.” Marriage education is a truly integral part of Australia’s new comprehensive overhaul of its family court system, the following description of which was condensed  and paraphrased from http://www.familyrelationships.gov.au by John Crouch.

Recently, Australia’s Family Law Act has undergone its most extensive reforms since it was first passed in 1975, with most changes taking effect July 1, 2006, and costing approximately $400 million over four years. The federal government calls this its largest investment in family services ever. The 65 new Family Relationship Centres that will be established across Australia form the core of the Government’s services and will support the reformed family law system. The first 15 opened in July 2006. The remaining 50 will be established in 2007 and 2008.

The Centres are a first port of call when families want information about relationship and separation issues. All family relationship information will be available in one place.

Texas courts give couples a manual and a quiz along with a marriage license

   

When You Get Married is a handbook distributed by the Texas Attorney General’s Office, authorized by legislation passed in 1999. It is available in English  and in Spanish. Besides advice on marriage and legal issues and financial issues (including considerable information about dealing with exes, child support from previous couplings, visitation, etc.) the booklet is also a workbook, with spaces for both the bride and the groom to answer the following questions:

Ga. court requires premarital education

Kathy Schleier at marriageinitiative@optilink.us wrote:

> Hi Diane,  I don't know if this is what you are looking for or not.
>  Our Initiative was started with the courts here in Whitfield County.  The
> Magistrate Court has always been allowed to marry persons, in 2004 we started
> working with them and they agreed that they would not marry anyone through
> this court without premarital education before they ceremony. We work with all
> the couples that go through the court system to receive their premarital
> education. We are hoping to work with them more with their domestic violence
> cases  and other incidences. We are also starting to work with the DFCS (child
> protective agency) in providing classes for the biological parents of children
> that have been removed from the home.  If that is what you are wanting, I will
> be glad to answer any questions about what we are doing. Thanks
> Kathy Schleier 706-260-1091
> Director Northwest Georgia Marriage Initiative

Chief Justice's commissionon Children, Marriage, and Family Law

Leah Ward Sears, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia, established a new commission--The Commission on Children, Marriage, and Family Law. The commission is composed of about 40 state leaders to help strengthen marriage and families. Press release is here: http://www.gasupreme.us/familylaw.pdf.

An attorney in Tennessee asked for our help to establish a similar commission in his state, so we are working there as well.

Please visit the Institute for American Values website for our reports and publications on family law, including See also our reports and book on international family law:
    -- marriage and the law: a joint statement of principles
-- critique of ALI'"Principles of Family Dissolution"
  --  report on international revolution in the definition of who is a parent and increasing role of courts
-- 2005 report on US and Canadian family law trends

Deb Strubel
Institute for American Values
1841 Broadway, Ste. 211
New York, NY 10023
Ph: 212-246-3942
http://www.americanvalues.org

Book by Conciliation Court judge who saved marriages

I've been reading "With This Ring" by the Hon. Louis A. Burke, a judge of the California "Conciliation Court" that was the inspiration for modern family courts and for the no-fault divorce system as it was originally intended. He talks about how he worked with various kinds of troubled couples, and the detailed agreements he helped them work out to heal their marriages.  It's available at amazon.com.

Burke had been a divorce lawyer, a local-government lawyer, and an Army officer and military judge in occupied Germany. He later became a Court of Appeal judge.

Texas courts provide a manual along with the marriage license

Ben Taylor of the Texas Attorney General's office has told me about a marriage handbook/workbook that his office has developed, which court clerks give to everyone who gets a marriage license. It is available in pdfs in English and Spanish.

It not only gives advice about marriage and the financial and legal issues that sometimes accompany it; it also asks  the bride and the groom to asnwer several simple but profound questions, in writing, about their expectations of marriage, themselves, their spouse, and their children.

New Utah law mixes marriage education and divorce education in divorce courts

More info at:

Utah enacts divorce prevention / trial separation package

Malta: Family Court mediation program saves 220 marriages (12%)

[Note: It says the figure doesn't include cases that the parties simply drop. It would be nice to know how many of those there are.
Malta is a small island nation between Italy and North Africa.
If anyone has more information about this, please post it using the "Comments" feature.]

Mediation saves 220 marriages in three years
Malta Today
October 10, 2006
James Debono

Malta. 220 couples whose marriage was on the rocks after entering separation
proceedings are now back together, thanks to the mediation system introduced
three years ago with the aim of avoiding legal litigation and encourage
reconciliation when possible.

It means that 12 per cent of all personal separations initiated in the
Family Court since January 2004 have ended with the reconciliation of the
estranged spouses.

Another op-ed by Chief Justice Sears

This is substantially different from the one posted earlier. It appeared 10/30/06 in the Washington Post.

Time, faith and attorney bring couple back together

Article from the Times Daily about a couple's journey back from the brink of divorce, which began when a divorce lawyer -- now a judge -- encouraged his client to take some time to think about it and to explore counseling before proceeding with divorce.

Mending marriages: Lauderdale judge focuses first on bringing couples together

[This story from the TImes Daily, a newspaper in Northwest Alabama, talks about two judges and an in-court marriage counselor who are offering counseling to couples who file for divorce]

Judge candidates critique divorce law & process

Candidates stress ways to speed divorce.

By ADRIAN ANGELETTE
The Baton Rouge Advocate
Sep 11, 2006

[This article presents the experience and views of four candidates for a Baton Rouge family court judgeship. All four candidates seem to have a lot of family law experience, wisdom, compassion, and a commitment to reform. At least two are involved in collaborative divorce and mediation, and two vowed to stop having off-the-record conferences with lawyers without the clients, which they said gives clients the impression of secrecy and corruption. The excerpts below are about reforms in the availability of divorce.]
…
Pam Baker
An attorney since 1984, Baker said she wishes the state would return to a system in which people first filed for legal separations before filing for divorces. The current system, which requires a spouse to file for divorce right off the bat, creates an immediate barrier to reconciliation.

Baker also said a new Louisiana law that forces couples with minor children to wait a year before getting their divorce finalized will create more litigation. Baker said more people will choose to have “fault trials” — or highly contentious hearings where one spouse accuses the other of horrible acts — in an attempt to shorten the lengthened process.
…
Tom Gibbs
…
Like Baker, Gibbs said he thinks the new state law requiring a one-year waiting period before divorces can become final will create more litigation in Family Court and end up not serving the Legislature’s intended purposes.

“Anything that prolongs the process isn’t good for anyone except for the lawyers,” Gibbs said.

The Legislature’s intention was to give people more time to reconcile, he said.

“It’s just a matter of passage of time. Once the parties get to a lawyer, they’ve already decided the marriage is over.”
…
Melanie Newkome Jones
… And although her parents have “the perfect divorce” and there is no animosity, Jones said, there still are strains, especially for children.

“It’s like the death of the family for a child,” she said.

Michigan Courthouse Marriage Ed. Programs

Diane Sollee's Smartmarriages listserv recently hade an informative post on this issue, titled Civil Marriage Gap/ eHarmony/ Broken Hearts - 8/06.

The full posting includes useful statistics about people who get civil marriages at court houses. Here's part of the posting:

"However, there are two exemplary programs, both in Michigan, that tackle
this problem.  I'll post this to the list and invite others working on
secular marriage preparation to write in.  Let's also hope there are a bunch
that are applying for the demonstration grants that are addressing this one.

"Adrian Michigan: Judge Jim Sheridan very early on in 1997, invited all those
that performed civil marriages in his county to sign a Community Marriage
Policy (CMP).  He realized that the conventional McManus CMPs that organize
clergy in a community left out the civil celebrants and the most challenged
couples.  This effort landed Sheridan on Oprah, by the way.  I am not aware
of others that have followed his lead. I'd love to hear from you if you've
done so.   

"Grand Rapids, Michigan: Mark Eastburg, director of Healthy Marriages Grand
Rapids, points out that if we we continue to focus our efforts only church
weddings, we're not going to change marriage success rates and we'll end up
looking like we don't know what we're talking about.  Mark presented his
model for preparing couples that marry in civil ceremonies at Smart
Marriages and includes guidelines for implementing and avoiding pitfalls. He
was part of a keynote panel, but also did a full workshops on this model. I
strongly encourage anyone working in a CHMI to get the workshop recording
and to get busy closing this gap in your community.

to order, call 800-241-7785:
> 754-317
> Strengthening Courthouse Weddings
> Mark Eastburg, PhD
> The 25% of couples who marry in civil ceremonies fall through the cracks
> and miss out on marriage preparation. This program identified their special
> needs and designed a program that works in collaboration with the courts to
> fill this void. 

The post was a response to a marriage educator/activist asking about programs for civil marriages. He wrote:

> Any input from you or your readers would be most appreciated. If I can learn
> what works in other communities making it work here would become much easier.
>  
> William Seabrook 
> Gastonia, NC 
> 704-865-8460
> mrsea9332 at aol.com

Family Lawyers Teach Kids Marriage Skills

One big thing lawyers are doing for marriage is the American Bar Association's PARTNERS program, in which family lawyers go into secondary schools to teach kids about the realities of marriage and divorce, and essential skills for forming and keeping healthy relationships. The curriculum is based on PAIRS, which some experts think is the best marriage skills program out there.

Georgia's Chief Justice Calls for Pro-Marriage Programs

Leah Ward Sears, Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, has repeatedly called for cultural efforts and programs to promote and improve marriages, including marriage education. Here are her op-ed on the subject and a much more detailed speech by her on the effects of divorce and single parenthood on society and the court system, and what can be done about them.