DELAY DIVORCE, SAVE A MARRIAGE?: From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

With proposed legislation to make couples wait longer for no-fault divorces, Georgia takes its place in a national movement to preserve marriage. But would the extra time promote reconciliation or just prolong the battle?

Murky research and incomplete statistics complicate the question.

The waiting period between the time divorce papers are filed and a decree can be issued varies by state, from 180 days to none at all. At six months, Georgia would be at the upper end of waiting periods. Here's a sampling of waiting periods in other states.

180 days: California, Michigan (if minors are involved) and Louisiana
90 days: Colorado, Iowa, Massachusetts, Oregon and Utah
60 days: Indiana, Kansas and Nebraska
30 days: Alabama, Delaware, Hawaii
20 days: Idaho, Florida and Wyoming

Proponents say slowing down the divorce process would give couples more time to think through the decision and avert divorces based on emotional impulse. Critics argue it will only drag out an emotionally charged period, leaving families in limbo.

A state Senate bill introduced Wednesday would extend the waiting period after filing for divorce from 30 days to six months for an uncontested divorce of a couple with children. Couples without children would wait four months. The waiting period would be waived if either spouse has a protective order or if there has been family violence.

Divorcing parents would be required to attend a minimum of four hours of classes that focus on the effects of divorce on children.

The debate over the bill stretches beyond political affiliations. Even therapists disagree on its effectiveness.

"What you're doing when you extend the waiting period for divorce is increasing the time for the most hostility and conflict," said Carl Johnson, executive director of the Georgia Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. The group opposes lengthening the waiting period but supports mandatory classes for parents, already required in many of the state's judicial districts.

But other therapists, including Wendy Patterson, an Atlanta counselor who leads marriage workshops, favor the longer waiting period.

"Most people who get divorced do not quit loving each other but they could not figure out a way to to make it work out of a lack of knowledge," Patterson said. "The potential is there that if it is not so easy to divorce, we might move forward, take a class about how to help the kids."

The Senate proposal is part of a national push to promote the institution of marriage. Alarmed by the declining number of children being raised in traditional two-parent households, officials in every state have adopted at least one policy or sponsored at least one activity to promote marriage since the mid-1990s, according to a study by the Center for Law and Social Policy.

Initiatives range from high school relationship classes in Florida to handbooks for marriage license applicants in Arizona. Three states--Arizona, Arkansas and Louisiana--have adopted a two-tier marriage system that allows couples to opt for a "covenant marriage," requiring premarital counseling and counseling before divorce. Nationally, the Bush administration has proposed a $1.5 billion spending initiative over five years to encourage healthy marriages.

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