Ending a dating relationship is fairly easy: just walk away. Sure, someone is going to be hurt but what legalities are there to untangle? If the couple has purchased property together that can be resolved easier than dividing marital property.
Even if the couple has a child or children together, there is less at stake when they’re not married. If a woman decides to have a child before marriage, what incentive does the child’s father have to legally bind himself to her once the child is born?
Getting married is extremely easy. Just about anyone can perform the ceremony and once the license is signed and filed, the marriage is legal and binding. Some partners just don’t make good spouses and some marriages should end.
Regardless of the reasons, good or poor, that bring a couple to consider divorce, they’ll find untying the knot is much more difficult than tying it. Their wedding party of family and friends is traded for adversarial legal teams battling over child support, marital assets, and who gets the dog.
In my opinion, the act of getting married should be equal to the act of getting a divorce. Forget the “we’re so in love” feelings that lead to saying “I do.” Focus on the legal aspects of becoming man and wife because those will be the main issues if the marriage fails.
The only way to lower the divorce rate is to lower the marriage rate. Understanding what’s at stake could help to do that.