Total Divorce Blog

In an effort to curb Nebraska divorce rates, freshman Senator Mark Christensen has introduced legislation which would make it harder to get married in the state. A McCook Daily Gazette story said there were 12,315 marriages and 5,975 divorces in Nebraska in 2005. With that latest data in mind, LB696 would require a 30-day waiting period and a $100 fee for couples who have not attended at least eight hours of marriage education classes.

As for those couples who do attend these Nebraska marriage classes, they would not be bound by any waiting period and would just have to pay the current $15 marriage fee in the state. And what exactly would be taught in this class? According to the story, these classes would focus on various important aspects in marriage, including conflict management, financial responsibility, and communication and parenting skills. The classes would be taught by church officials, clergy, marriage counselors or any other qualified instructors.

This legislation to curb Nebraska divorce rates does include some exceptions to the waiting period and increased marriage fee. Specifically, the story said that there is an “out” for the terminally ill, people who are going to be transferred to a combat zone, and others who have compelling circumstances. If such circumstances existed, that couple could possibly have the $100 fee and 30-day waiting period waived by the county clerk.

Ultimately, this proposed Nebraska law is just another example of how states are trying to reduce divorce by bolstering marriages. Texas and Indiana are states which have already considered covenant marriage bills this year, and a similar bill in Oklahoma failed in the state Senate earlier this week. We’ll keep you updated on any more developments with this Nebraska legislation and any other similar bills.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 6th, 2007 at 2:12 pm and is filed under Divorce Law. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.