Divorce Laws and the Structure of the American Family

This paper investigates the impact of no‐fault divorce laws on marriage and divorce in the United States. I propose a theory that captures the key stylized facts of the rising then declining divorce rates and the apparent convergence of divorce rates across the different divorce regimes. The empiric...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of legal studies 2006-01, Vol.35 (1), p.143-174
Main Author: Mechoulan, Stéphane
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alimony
Divorce
Divorce law
Divorce rates
Divorced status
Empirical research
Family law
Family structure
Financial analysis
Health care statistics
Legal reform
Legislature
Marital conflict
Marital property
Marriage law
Personal property
Property law
Property rights
Reforms
Social impact
Spouses
U.S.A
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Summary:This paper investigates the impact of no‐fault divorce laws on marriage and divorce in the United States. I propose a theory that captures the key stylized facts of the rising then declining divorce rates and the apparent convergence of divorce rates across the different divorce regimes. The empirical results suggest that a shift from fault to no‐fault divorce increased the odds of divorcing for those couples who married before the shift. The analysis further suggests that those couples who marry after the shift to a no‐fault regime, in turn, sort themselves better upon marriage, which offsets the direct effect of the law on divorce rates. Consistent with that selectivity argument, after a switch to a no‐fault divorce regime, women get married later in life. These results hold for the law that governs property division and spousal support. The law that governs divorce grounds does not seem to matter significantly.
ISSN:0047-2530
1537-5366
DOI:10.1086/498832