The government can encourage successful marriages through creation of laws that make acquiring a divorce harder. Such laws would help ensure that only when there are extreme cases in marriage would the parties involved be granted divorce. These laws would consequently help make couples work harder for their marriages before deciding to opt for a divorce (Stanley and Markman 4). It would also help reduce the notion in society that marriage is a disposable thing. The government can also increase the number of successful marriages by making a requirement that all couples get pre-marital counseling. This would help prepare the couples for the demanding nature of marriage and also help them in making the final decision on whether the person they are marrying or getting married to is right for them.
Covenant marriages are a unique form of marriage in that the couples agree to go for pre-marital counseling and also agree to limited grounds for separation. In my opinion these marriages are good as they help in teaching the marrying couples that marriage is not just a mere contract like any other contract between two people. Covenant marriages emphasize on the significance of the family set up as a foundation of the society. This emphasis is necessary because without marriages society would not grow.
A major reason why covenant marriages are not very popular is because of their association with religion. An increasing number of Americans are trying to maintain a form of independence from religion and want to control various aspects of their lives such as marriage. Hence why most people are not going for covenant marriages as they feel that they would be allowing religion to interfere in their marital life. Another reason these marriages are not common is because people do not know about them. Most people are aware of marriage as simply finding someone to marry or get married to and then having a wedding ceremony. People forget that marriage like many other steps in life requires an individual to be adequately prepared before taking the step.
It is common belief that pre-nuptial agreements help in reducing the rate of divorce by creating consequences when a partner abuses another or is not faithful in marriage. The agreements in such cases show that the partner will lose out on some of their property during division of wealth if the other partner asks for a divorce. However, this belief is not true as the pre-nuptial agreement only makes partners in marriage aware of what would happen if they were to divorce and not why they should avoid divorce. For example, laws against drug trafficking have been there in the United States for centuries, these laws clearly stipulate the consequences of this crime, but they do not stop drug traffickers from going about their business. Such laws only make the traffickers more cautious when conducting their illegal trade. Same way a pre-nuptial agreement makes a cheating partner more cautious when going about their infidelity. Furthermore, making a person stay in a marriage for fear of losing out on their wealth is more like arm twisting couples not to divorce which is not recommendable. Couples should choose to fight for their marriages out of their intrinsic desire to have a successful union and not for fear of losing out on wealth.
Pre-nuptial agreements contain provisions on how property would be divided between couples in case of a divorce. These agreements contain information on support of a partner and any children in case a marriage is not successful. The agreements also discuss protection of assets accumulated before marriage from incidences such as bankruptcy of the other partner (Einheuser 12).
Works Cited
Stanley, Scott and Howard Markman. “Can Government Save Marriages?” Smart Marriages
(nd). Web. 18 Dec. 2011. (http://www.smartmarriages.com/8.html)
Einheuser, Michael. “The Prenuptial Agreement- Don’t Fear the Prenup.” Understand-Estate-
Planning.com 2011. Web. 18 Dec. 2011. (http://www.understand-estate-
planning.com/prenuptial.html)
