The Curse of the Semi-Happy Marriage

As I was logging onto my yahoo account to get my dad's itinerary for his trip here in August, I came across an article about semi-happy marriages. I think the main point in the article is that marriages that are "comfortable" are responsible for a great deal of divorces. As a divorce attorney, I see a variety of different reasons for why marriages break up from adultery to massive financial problems. I do see some people who simply cannot articulate why their marriage is "irretrievably broken" when asked this question in Court. There have been a couple of occasions at a mediation or final hearing when I cannot really understand why the marriage is ending in divorce because the parties seem like great friends. With the recent fairytale wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton splashed all over every media outlet, its easy to see that Americans love the "fairytale". Does that mean that a marriage doesn't work if it isn't a fairytale? I am going to be so bold as to say that most marriages are not fairytales 100% of the time. Does this mean that divorce makes sense? I find this article slightly concerning with the current rate of divorce being very high, I would hope that people determine whether they are the "marrying kind" before they say I Do.

I Do, For the 23rd Time.

There is a woman in Indiana who holds the Guinness World Record as the most married woman and she recently wed for the 23rd time. Its reported that she have married so many man that she can't remember them in order, the longest marriage lasting 7 years and the shortest one lasting 36 hours. I am flabbergasted by this, for many different reasons, the most important reason being, why continue to get married if you have no intention of making the marriage work? The most I've known someone, client or otherwise, to be married was 6 times, and I thought that was an unbelievable amount of times to be married. 23 marriages is definitely something for the tabloid papers and for all of us to say, WOW.

Sex and Divorce

A South Florida pastor seems to believe that there is a link between divorce and the lack of sex in some marriages. He has challenged his married members to thirty days of sex in order to help couples reconnect and avoid divorce. Its interesting that a member of the clergy is devising such a challenge, and I'm curious to know whether this actually helps troubled marriages. To read about this pastor and his mission, see the following:

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/52955

Groom Taking Bride's Last Name

Its not often that a groom wants to take a bride's last name in marriage, and in Florida, it requires a judicial order rather than just filling in the blanks on a government form and showing proof of your marriage. The following question and answer article discusses groom name change and also a quick little lesson on the rules of "fault" in divorce here in Florida.

http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/403200.html

Marriage Mill

Most people know that its a crime to be married to more than one person at the same time. You don't hear of many cases these days when people are committing the crime of bigamy. A Miami woman was recently arrested for running what seemed to be a marriage mill. She was marrying people to help them obtain their U.S. Citizenship. She was finally caught and arrested.

To read about the story, see: http://cbs13.com/watercooler/bigamy.Florida.woman.2.611709.html