Getting married is often one of the happiest days in an adult's life. Unfortunately, in many cases these marriages lead to divorce. When a divorce occurs, many difficult and often contentious decisions must be made. One such decision is whether and how much alimony is to be paid to the other spouse.
Alimony is often used to make the transition from marriage to divorce easier for one of the spouses. Generally the spouse who makes less or is unemployed will receive alimony. These payments can range from small payments to multimillion dollar settlements; it all depends on the income and lifestyle during the marriage.
But, in 2011, the Coalition for Divorce Reform was created to solve some of the issues in divorce. This includes increasing awareness of the negative impact of divorce and to support divorce reform. Less than two years after this coalition was formed, the coalition has made substantial progress on two states with the highest divorces rates; North Carolina and Georgia.
A bill to amend Georgia's divorce laws was introduced this year. This bill would require expecting parents and parents with children under the age of 18 to participate in an education course before divorcing. This course would focus on the affect divorce has on children and will teach positive communication skills. The course would be eight hours total and the parents would not have to attend together.
Under the current law, a no-fault divorce can be granted in 30 days. The new bill would only allow a divorce 11 months after the filing.
Source: The Huffington Post, "Is the way we divorce in America about to change?," Beverly Willett and Chris Gersten, April 29, 2013
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