Divorce is a constitutional right as a matter of freedom and liberty under the 5^th Amendment and 14^th Amendment due process clauses.  In the United States, the regulation of divorce and marriage have been left to the States, but the federal government has an interest in uniformity under the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the U.S. Constitution.  U.S. Constitution, Article IV, Section 1.

Congress is given the power to regulate how full faith and credit is implemented across state lines.  A marriage is a license issued by a state and when one state issues such a license, all others must enforce it under Full Faith and Credit.

Divorces often happen in the context of domestic violence and disabled people are more vulnerable to domestic violence.  If any person wants a divorce, one should assume that violence is part of the picture and the Courts have not done this.  Sometimes a victim does not want to talk about their trauma in front of a court.

It needs to be easy to get a divorce and no direct contact with the respondent should be necessary.

Disability Party is 100% in favor of divorce reform that removes all barriers that states and state and federal courts may have placed in the way of this fundamental constitutional freedom.

MARRIAGE IN ONE DAY

It is easy to get married and sign a marriage license in just one day.  Getting married and getting divorced should be equally easy.

DIVORCE POLICY

Disability Party recognizes that divorce is a fundamental right and no government has the right to force a person to stay married if they no longer wish to be married.  A divorce should happen the same day the application is filed.  There should be no right to stop a divorce, even for the spouse being divorced.

Many times, child support, alimony, and other details of the divorce are used as a reason to impose classes, wait periods, and other barriers.  There is no reason why these other matters cannot be decided after a divorce is granted.  To say child support and visitation will delay a divorce will cause more people not to have children and this is not a policy in the public interest.

In any event, any reason to stop a divorce from happening the same day is a bogus reason.  AFTER a divorce is registered with the National Divorce Bureau, those questions can be decided separately.  Further, if the NDB as an independent federal agency is given power over child support and visitation and can coordinate with other federal agencies to collect and gather funds for needy children of divorce, this is a good thing.  The NDB should coordinate internationally so that alimony can be collected and property seized in all countries, with no escape from running to another country.

NDB should coordinate with state and local courts to create a national and international database to protect victims of physical abuse and economic abuse.  It will be much easier to get justice from those who abandon their families and engage in multiple marriages this way.  A state trial court simply does not have the resources or connections to enforce these national policies.

NDB should post every divorce application on its website as a national system of service and provide a period of 2 weeks for a respondent being divorced to allege fraud or some other substantiated reason to oppose the divorce.  Solid, clear and convincing evidence must be provided and the burden is on the person being divorced to oppose it in a timely manner.  If the person making the divorce application ticks a box that some sort of domestic abuse has happened, there is no defense and the divorce is immediately final on the same day.

The NDB is a U.S. agency, but if a tourist wishes to use the system to get a divorce in the United States that will be recognized by the U.S. government and all state governments, this should be possible on the same day a foreigner is granted entry into the United States at a U.S. port of entry.

An American who wishes to divorce should only have to pay a nominal fee of $50 to use the NDB system.  The states should be allowed to continue with their divorce systems, but no one should be forced to use them.  If a foreigner wishes to divorce after arriving in the U.S.A., a slightly higher fee of $100 should be imposed.

Congress should set simple national standards that are easy to understand and apply in the areas of child support, custody, and visitation as well as alimony and property division on divorce.  All property obtained during the marriage should be divided 50/50.  Child support should be set at an amount sufficient to sustain a child and if the parent paying this needs financial help, there should be a national fund to supplement.  All normal areas of divorce law should be simplified and made available at the national level without any imposition of delay on the divorce itself.

Child support should not be based on the income or assets of the parent paying it, but instead should be set at a level that will sustain the child in all areas normally requiring money.  Every child should have an account at the NDB after the divorce with debit cards associated so the child’s money is monitored.  Child support is not alimony and a parent with custody should not be able to use child support for any purpose other than the welfare of that child

Alimony is spousal support and like child support, should be placed in an account with NDB and accessed with a debit card.

These details will make divorces much easier to obtain and standardized across the United States.  The freedom to divorce is global in nature as a natural law right of association.  The USA should push for a UN resolution on the subject of national divorce agencies like the NDB so that people have the same rights everywhere with no exception.