Divorce and what we need to know

Divorce is the termination of the marriage relation and the marriage contract by direction of a court. Three other legal terms should be distinguished from divorce. Annulment is the invalidation of a marrigage; ie., a court declaration that the marriage never came into being, in contrast to divorce, which indicates that the marriage did exist, but has been ended by the court. Legal separation is a court determination that the marriage still exists, but that the parties are directed to live apart. Dissolution is a term used in some states as the equivalent of divorce; in other states, it is the equivalent of an annulment. However, in either case, the marriage relation is ended. In California, for example, under the recent law which makes “irreconcilable differences” or “irretrievable breakdown” the ground for ending a marriage the word “dissolution” is used instead of divorce. New york has four different categories of court judgments relating to marriage, divorce, annulment, seperation, and dissolution. Dissolution in New York applies to the special case of marriages terminated on the ground that one party has been absent for more than five years without explanation, and the presumption that the party is dead. Popularly, this is known as the Enoch Arden Law, and to lsome degree it was the forerunner of the “no fault” divorce thinking.

Enoch Arden was the hero of a popular ninteenth century novel; he was lost at sea and given up for dead. When he returned home to find his wife married to another, he nobly went off without letting her know he was still alive. Under the law as it existed then, the second marriage was void, and his wife was a bigamist. This led to clamor for a law that would protect the innocent spouse if one long believed to be gone and then turn up after several years.