One of the things that makes it difficult to track the Divorce Revolution of the late ’60s and ’70s (and its many dire consequences) is the fact that, after California “started” the revolution on January 1, 1970, the effective date of the Family Law Act of 1969, it’s not really clear which states adopted no-fault divorce and when. Dates are hard enough to come by, and differing standards of what “counts” as no-fault divorce law makes it even harder to track.
I just read (well, skimmed) a very interesting little paper called The Effective Dates of No-Fault Divorce Laws in the 50 States, by Ashbaugh Vlosky and Pamela A. Monroe, published in the October 2002 issue of Family Relations. The article is under copyright, so, because American copyright law remains entirely dysfunctional and largely insane, I can’t share the whole thing with you. However, per the article’s terms of use and the U.S.’s Fair Use doctrine, I can share with you a single table. This one:
I’m going to leave it here for reference. Maybe one day some adventurous Wikipedian will come along and document it for the WP article on no-fault divorce in the United States. I will, of course, refer to it frequently, and, since no one reads this blog, it is mainly for my benefit anyway.
James, I read this post! Of course it is more than 18 months after you wrote it, but I did read it.
I was looking for a reference with the effective dates for each state’s adoption of no-fault divorce. Thanks for posting this info.
WHOOHOO!
My day is made. Thanks!
“Differing standards” of “adopted”, indeed. On this list, New York is tied for fourth with Nevada. South Dakota is second to last.
But as late as 2010, New York was both praised and damned for being the only holdout, 25 years after South Dakota fell.
Here the New York Times complains:
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/15/is-new-york-ready-for-no-fault-divorce/?_r=1
The Wall Street Journal thinks it’s still not final:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304811304577368110112622548
That’s a 43-year discrepancy!
Evidently there’s a distinction between introduction and completion of the process. Like when I took, passed, and got credit for driver’s ed immediately after turning 16, but waited until 24 to take out the license.
You make an interesting point!
New York did pass a Divorce Reform Law in 1966, and it came into force (its “effective date”) in 1967. It seems that there is some disagreement about whether that law introduced true “no-fault” divorce or not. It apparently allowed divorce with no assignment of fault in cases where the spouses consensually separated for a certain amount of time, which technically meets the definition of “no-fault” and thus it made it into this paper.
But most Americans, when they hear “no-fault divorce,” think of a unilateral legal grounds for divorce such as “incompatibility.” New York did not allow THAT until 2010. Thus the news reports you cite.
Incidentally, the paper is now available in full, thanks to some professor who posted it on a Google-indexed server. So, anyone who wants to read it, here it be: http://content.csbs.utah.edu/~fan/fcs5400-6400/studentpresentation2009/04DivorceReadingVinsky.pdf