Share:
Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | October 21, 2024 01:45 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Maria Collett |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Reforming Pennsylvania’s Divorce Laws |
| Pennsylvania law currently provides two pathways for seeking a divorce based on “fault” or “no-fault” grounds. In Pennsylvania, this practice is rooted in laws dating back to Act 109 of 1815 – where the stated public policy goals were to promote: “the divine precepts of the Christian religion…” and only sought to provide divorce to “innocent and injured [parties].” Fault-based divorce, as the name implies, allows divorce proceedings to occur after evidence is supplied that a member of the relationship is at fault for the marriage failing. Our Commonwealth, though founded on principles of tolerance, acceptance, and the pursuit of individual liberty and happiness, has not reformed the way we codify divorce practices to both reflect current reality and not impose religious beliefs or tenets upon our citizens. We know that obstacles to finalizing a divorce disproportionately impact women experiencing domestic violence or – as is the case in at least Texas, Arizona, Missouri, and Arkansas – pregnancy. My legislation will remove fault-based divorce provisions and modify the no-fault standard currently in place by drastically reducing the time parties must wait to finalize a divorce. The legislation would remove mandatory counseling requirements between the parties and establish a process for pregnant non-Pennsylvanians who face barriers in divorce proceedings to have a pathway to divorce through the Commonwealth’s court system. Evidence shows that eliminating fault-based divorce results in decreases in female suicide rates, domestic abuse, and homicide of women by intimate partners. And in the wake of the disastrous and destabilizing Dobbs decision by the United States Supreme Court, we must act at the state level to guard against any intrusion that undermines women’s autonomy. Please join me in sponsoring this important legislation to reform the cumbersome and inequitable divorce process. |