RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesAmong the policy objectives adopted by the Texas GOP earlier this summer, ending the pathway to an easy divorce is once again back on the Republican agenda heading into the 90th legislature.
No-fault divorce allows spouses to end a marriage without proving that the other spouse did something wrong, such as cheating or abuse. It also means one spouse generally does not have to agree to the divorce.
Instead, under no-fault divorce, the court grants a divorce on the basis of irreconcilable differences between the couple.
For many families, the system offers a way to end a marriage without spending additional time, money and emotional energy litigating who was at fault.
Legal advocates argue that the current divorce law can serve as a lifeline, particularly for women seeking to leave troubled or unsafe marriages swiftly.
"For a lot of people who have already been through so much trauma, sometimes the simplest path [no-fault divorce] is going to be the thing that makes most sense for them," said Natalie Nanasi, who serves as an associate professor of Law at SMU and leads a legal center for crimes against women.
Fault-based divorce remains an option for Texans, but Nanasi said she rarely sees it used in her practice.
Meanwhile, religious conservatives and lawmakers who have presented bills to end no-fault will argue that current law undermines the sanctity of marriage, tears families apart, and gives the opposing party little recourse to stop it.
"When two people got married, [the expectation] was for life," said Jeff Morgan, a staunch ally for removing unilateral no-fault divorces, "it has repercussions for generations," said Morgan.
Texas' no-fault divorce laws stretch back to the early 1970s.
Before then, spouses seeking a divorce generally had to provide sufficient evidence of wrongdoing to persuade a court to grant one
Grounds included adultery, abandonment, extreme cruelty, intemperance and lengthy imprisonment.
But legal research shows that collusion often occurred, in which parties would come together to fabricate grounds just to get out of their marriage. Ultimately, it was determined that the system using fault-based divorces was broken and ineffective, paving the way for more flexible legislation such as no-fault to take over as the norm.
After that period, divorce rates saw an initial spike, likely due to the efficiency of the process introduced; however, that has since tapered off. In fact, in 2019, divorce rates hit a 50-year low, according to American Community Survey Data from the U.S. Census.
For people like Morgan, however, no-fault divorce has stripped him of what he views as a constitutional right to protest the dissolution.
He told Chron his views were shaped by watching his father go through a divorce and later experiencing divorce himself, one he did not want.
"When we utter our vows, many people say, 'Till death do you part.'....My vows are more important than anything… I made this vow to God, and my wife was the beneficiary of my vow," Morgan argued.
Morgan also believes no-fault laws have fostered a culture of acceptance around divorce and have paved the way for a booming legal industry to financially benefit from marital breakups.
Popular reforms conservatives support are requiring counseling before a divorce is granted, extending Texas' waiting period from two months to six, and giving a spouse who opposes the divorce an opportunity to present a defense for a judge to consider.
"I didn't say you could not have a legal divorce. I'm just saying you can’t have a forced divorce," Morgan clarified.
Legal experts like Nanasi, who represents victims of domestic violence in divorce proceedings, point to a slew of examples that underscore the importance of preserving the law as is.
"Women already face an uphill battle in terms of being believed… and having to go through the process of testifying in court about this, dredging up all of this harm, getting the police report—a lot of times, women are just like, 'I just want to be done with it.'"
The highly publicized divorce of Texas-based MAGA commentator Steven Crowder and his wife became a popular case study in the debate.
On his podcast in 2023, Crowder lamented that his wife no longer wanted to be married to him, "and in the state of Texas, that is completely permitted."
"It's been the most heartbreaking experience of my life," Crowder said, "But in today's legal system, my beliefs don't matter. In Texas, divorce is permitted when one party wants it, period."
Days after the podcast aired, video footage from a Ring camera was leaked showing Crowder berating his then-pregnant wife during an argument at their home. The footage, recorded in June 2021, showed his wife, who was eight months pregnant at the time, attempting to leave as Crowder confronted her over what he described as a lack of "discipline and respect."
Her family later alleged that the behavior was part of a years-long pattern of abuse.
For Nanasi, cases like Crowder's demonstrate what can get lost in the political debate over preserving marriage: Leaving an abusive relationship can be among the most dangerous moments for a victim, she said.
"If this marriage is unsafe or unhealthy for one of the parties in it, not to mention the children who have been brought into it through no fault of their own, I just can’t think of a rational argument for that marriage to be sustained," Nanasi said.
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