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As it stands today, any married Alaskan can file a complaint for a divorce by telling the court that there is an incompatibility of temperament making it impossible for the married couple to continue to live together as husband and wife. This "no fault" divorce concept makes it relatively easy to obtain a divorce: even if the other spouse objects, the court will grant a divorce on the grounds of incompatibility of temperament.

Despite the fact that studies have shown that the divorce rates have recently fallen in the interior of Alaska, new legislation has been introduced which would make it more difficult for some couples to obtain a divorce. This is an attempt to revive the "fault" requirements for divorce which were the status quo in America until the last few decades. Rising divorce rates in America make the chances that a marriage will last approximately 50/50.

To combat this statistic, many states are attempting to recreate the concept of "fault" requirement for a marriage. As part of this trend, Alaska, representative Pete Kelly his introduced house bill number 390, which would, if passed, create a "charter marriage" concept in this state. Under this proposed law, a couple who desired to have a charter marriage must first receive religious or psychological counseling or marital and family therapy and sign at least two statements which indicate their intent to form a charter marriage and their knowledge of what this entails. The charter marriage concept is premised on the belief that marriage is a lifelong serious commitment which should not easily be broken.

While the philosophy of a charter marriage is positive and the intent to reduce the divorce rate is noble, the dangers which lurk in this new bill should it become law are numerous. For example, a spouse to a charter marriage may only become divorced if it is proven to a judge that the other spouse has committed adultery, has been convicted of a felony and sentenced to death or at least three years of prison, abandoned the marital home for at least one year and refuses to return, or after the court grants a legal separation and the couple have not lived together for at least one year, or eighteen months if the couple has children. A legal separation itself under the new rules is not automatically granted. In addition to proving that the spouse has obtained personal counseling, a spouse must prove either at least a one year separation period, or that the other spouse adultery, has a felony conviction, abandoned the home for at least one year, physical abuse of the spouse or physical or sexually abused a child, has been a habitual drug user or drunk, endangered the life of the other spouse, or certain other factors. A spouse to a charter marriage may not petition the court for a dissolution, nor may a spouse who is legally separated attempt to remarry.

What this means is that the focus of a divorce in a charter marriage may shift first to the issue of adultery, and away from property division and child custody. Divorce trials may begin to have the feeling of the Clinton/Lewinski soap opera, with spouses hiring private investigators in an attempt to prove unfaithfulness so that a divorce may quickly be granted.

Moreover, those spouses who discover that they have married liars, abusers, gamblers, tax avoiders and the like may not be able to easily undo the damage and move on with their lives. Instead, they may be forced to attempt to reconcile and wait for years under the new waiting periods imposed by the law, while their partner continues the negative behaviors.

The most dangerous aspect of the new laws concerns victims of violence, which takes many forms in families. It is often extremely difficult for those who have been subject to years of physical, emotional and/or sexual abuse to break away from a perpetrator and seek shelter and freedom from harm. The new laws prevent abused spouses from immediately petitioning for divorce. Instead they must first obtain counseling, and then ask the court to grant a separation and prove the abuse prior to obtaining separation judgment. Once the separation is obtained, the spouse subject to abuse must wait for at least a year or 18 months if there are children, and then and only then can a divorce judgment be granted. The divorce process involved in a charter marriage can last for years.

The dissolution procedure presently in effect has its own 30 day waiting period designed to allow the parties a "cool down" so that they can be certain the a dissolution is what they really desire and to give them time to change their minds about the terms they have agreed to.

Through the use of a charter marriage, one spouse can effectively force the other to remain married, despite the fact that life has become a living hell for that spouse or the children. A spouse with a debt problem can cause the other spouse to incur enormous debts during a marriage, which may be impossible to avoid short of filing bankruptcy if a divorce can not be quickly obtained. Older successful spouses who marry for the second or third time into a charter marriage can find themselves stuck in a marriage premised upon money and not love, with little recourse. Those with children from a prior relationship may find a new spouse abusive to these children and need a quick release from an unforseeable situation.

Proponents of the charter marriage concept will argue that the agreement is voluntary, and that there is requirement that newlyweds enter into a charter marriage. However, it is impossible to really know a potential mate or to predict how your future spouse will act once the marriage occurs. Those who learn that the love of their lives is really a devil in disguise often need to be able to dissolve bonds easily so that harm can quickly be curtailed.

As an update to the above article, the bill did not pass and Charter Marriages are not yet the law in Alaska.

The law office of Pradell and Associates provides low cost legal consultations. A helpful staff provides prompt, courteous services to meet your legal needs. Give Pradell and Associates a call today, at (907) 279-4529-- (279-4LAW). This article is not intended to provide legal advice and should not be relied on for that purpose.