Posts for 'Others' Category

When it comes to the Court Room, you will find this to be a pretty place.  Once the divorce proceedings begin, the outcome of your divorce is in the hands of a total stranger - the Judge.  You no longer have control. All decisions will now be made by a stranger. Of course this stranger may be having a bad day, not feeling well, or even have had a major fight with their spouse the night before.   I know it's scary and may even seem unfair, but this is the real world and it happens all the time. This judge is now in control of the outcome of your trial.

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The unhappily married would be stuck with each other under a proposal given clearance to try to get on the California ballot. Secretary of State Debra Bowen says the proponent of the proposed constitutional amendment may begin collecting petition signatures for his measure.

John Marcotte must collect signatures of 694,354 registered voters – the number equal to 8 percent of the total votes cast for governor in the 2006 gubernatorial election – in order to qualify it for the ballot. He has until Dec. 9.

If he’s successful and if the measure were to be approved by voters and survive the usual gauntlet of lawsuits, the California Constitution would be changed to eliminate the ability of married couples to get divorced in California.

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A new study found that if your friends are splitting up, it will most likely happen to you. Taking the plunge into marriage is often a decision influenced by family and friends. It now also appears the choice to end marriage is strongly based on influence as well.

The study followed 12,000 people in Framingham, Massachusetts since 1948. According to new study from Brown University, knowing a friend, family member, or co-worker is getting divorced increases your risk of divorce by 75 percent. Even the divorce of a friend of a friend increases the chance by 33 percent.

Marriage therapist Sandra Kacher says divorce, as common as it is these days, can almost be like weight loss, smoking or even being happy. The more you see others close to you do it, the higher the possibility you could follow.

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Happy couples take note. A new study suggests that divorce spreads through a social group like a virus, with the breakup of a friend's marriage vastly increasingly the possibility of one's own nuptials ending. Researchers have dubbed the phenomenon "divorce clustering" and say a breakup between friends in your immediate social circle can increase your own chances of being divorced by 75 per cent.

Even a friend of a friend divorcing increases the likelihood of your own breakup by 33 per cent, the U.S. joint study by three academics from Brown University, Harvard University and the University of California says. The researchers examined statistics taken from a group of individuals over a 32-year period.

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In marriages with a lot of conflict, "staying together for the kids" might do more harm than good, a new study suggests.Children of parents who fight a lot yet stay married  experience more  conflict in their own adult relationships than children of parents who fight and do get a divorce.

"The basic implication is, 'Don't stay together for the sake of the children if you're in a high conflict marriage,'" said study researcher Constance Gager, of Montclair State University in New Jersey. Relationship surveysSome studies have shown children of divorced parents are more likely to get a divorce themselves, but it was not completely clear whether it was the divorce itself or the parents' conflict that had the greater impact on a child's relationships.

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 A study published by the Social Science Research Network has found that likelihood of divorce is influenced by the social network in which a person is involved. James H. Fowler and Rose McDermott of the Department of Political Science at the University of California, and Nicholas A. Christakis of Harvard University, utilized a longitudinal data set from the well-known Framingham-Heart Study to explore how social networks influence divorce.

"Divorce is the dissolution of a social tie, but it is also possible that attitudes about divorce flow across social ties," said Dr. Fowler. The researchers report that, "We find that divorce can spread between friends, siblings, and coworkers, and there are clusters of divorcees that extend two degrees of separation in the network."

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Breaking up is hard to do, unless everyone else is doing it too," say three social scientists in a new working paper. In the paper (hat tip to the New York Times blog Freakonomics), Rose McDermott, Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler argue that divorce can spread through circles of friends because social network influence a person's romantic and sexual practices. Using a 32-year sample, the study finds that "a person is 75 percent more likely to be divorced if a person that they are directly connected to is divorced."

The authors conclude:"Divorce appears to spread through social networks, and, in turn, exerts effects on the structure of the network itself, changing its character. In so doing, we suggest that attending to the health of one's friends' marriages serves to support and enhance the durability of one's own relationship."

Clearing amendments for introduction of ‘irretrievable breakdown of marriage' in the Hindu Marriages Act, the Union Cabinet on Thursday, Jun 10 made the process of getting a divorce much easier.With this amendment, the husband or the wife can seek divorce on the new grounds of 'irretrievable breakdown of marriage' which gets added to the existing ones such as adultery, cruelty, desertion, conversion to another religion, unsoundness of mind, virulent and incurable form of leprosy, venereal disease in a communicable form, and renouncement of the world.

“This would provide safeguards to parties to marriage who file petition for grant of divorce by consent from the harassment in court if any of the party does not come to the court or wilfully avoids the court to keep the divorce proceedings inconclusive,” said Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni while speaking to media personnel.

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Divorce affects kids. There’s no question about that. In the United States there are a million new children of divorce each year. E. Mavis Hetherington, a psychology professor at the University of Virginia, reports in her book, Better or For Worse:

Divorce Reconsidered, that about 25% of children from divorced families have serious social and emotional problems as opposed to 10% of children from intact families. There are ways to reduce these odds, and dads; the weighty issue is on your shoulders. Here are four steps to follow to ensure your children are minimally affected with emotional and social problems.

Divorce affects kids. There’s no question about that. In the United States there are a million new children of divorce each year. E. Mavis Hetherington, a psychology professor at the University of Virginia, reports in her book, Better or For Worse:

Divorce Reconsidered, that about 25% of children from divorced families have serious social and emotional problems as opposed to 10% of children from intact families. There are ways to reduce these odds, and dads; the weighty issue is on your shoulders. Here are four steps to follow to ensure your children are minimally affected with emotional and social problems.