Oklahoma House of Representatives
January 30, 2004

By MIKE W. RAY
House Media Division Director
OKLAHOMA CITY -- At least eight measures intended to strengthen marriage and discourage divorce have been filed by state House and Senate Republicans for consideration during this year's legislative session.

House Bill 2175, for example, would require a squabbling couple to attend at least one hour of marriage counseling "within 90 days prior to the filing of a petition" for divorce or a legal separation.

Qualifying counselors would include any "licensed marital and family therapist, licensed professional counselor, licensed behavioral practitioner or any other person authorized to perform marriage counseling," the bill stipulates.

"Many times, people make decisions without pausing to reflect on the consequences of their actions," said Rep. John Wright, author of HB 2175.

The Broken Arrow Republican lamented "the crumbling nature of families" from divorce that is rampant in contemporary society. "We incur a tremendous expense" because of "the fallout from the disintegration of marriage," he emphasized, such as domestic violence, child care, food stamps, and job training/retraining.

Marriage "is not to be entered into lightly," Wright said. "And likewise, I believe that couples should not be able to get out of a marriage without at least pausing to reflect on the outcome of that course of action."

House Bill 2597 decrees that in all actions for divorce, separate maintenance, guardianship, paternity, child custody or visitation -- "where the interest of a child under 18 years of age is involved" -- the estranged couple would be compelled to attend an "educational program" on pertinent family issues.

Topics would include, "as appropriate, the impact of separate parenting and co-parenting on children, the implications for visitation and conflict management, development of children, separate financial responsibility for children, and such other instruction as deemed necessary by the court."

HB 2597 also would prohibit a court from issuing a final order of divorce for at least one year from the date the petition was filed if the couple has children younger than 12. If the couple's minor children are 12 or older, the filing threshold would remain 90 days from the petition filing date.

Rep. Greg Piatt, R-Ardmore, is the author of HB 2597. House Bill 2522 would deny legal recognition of most common law marriages in Oklahoma after Nov. 1, for legal and moral reasons alike.

"There's so much fraud perpetuated" in the name of common law marriage, said Rep. Raymond L. Vaughn, Jr., an Edmond attorney and the author of HB 2522. For example, he said, common law marriages cause confusion in inheritance issues and the allocation of Social Security benefits. Also, during an interim legislative study of the issue in 2001, House members were advised that "the lack of finality and certainty" of common law marriages creates problems in processing insurance claims and generates additional litigation.

In addition, several legislators have asserted that 'shacking up' is morally corrosive to the fabric of society.

Exceptions to the ban would include:
* any common law marriage established prior to that date, which
"shall continue to be recognized as valid in this state";
* the relationship between a cohabiting couple who are the biological parents of one or more children;
* the union between a man and woman who were able to provide proof that they lived together for at least 10 years "prior to any action contesting the existence or validity" of their common law marriage.

HB 2522 is similar to previous proposals (in 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2002) that passed the House of Representatives but died in the Senate.

Premarital counseling would be a legal requirement for obtaining a marriage license in Oklahoma, under Senate Bill 881 by Sen. Owen Laughlin of Woodward and Senate Bill 1213 by Sen. Glenn Coffee of Oklahoma City.

Topics covered in the counseling would include:
* "the nature, purpose and responsibilities of a marital relationship";
* "responsibilities regarding children";
* conflict management; and
* "financial responsibilities" of the couple.

House Bill 2634 by Rep. Kris Steele of Shawnee, House Bill 2525 by Vaughn, and Senate Bill 882 by Laughlin all would authorize covenant marriages in this state.
In a covenant marriage, a couple declare that they "understand and agree" their pending union is "a commitment for life," and agree to obtain premarital counseling "on the nature, purposes and responsibilities" of a marriage. Also, grounds for dissolution of a covenant marriage are more restrictive than those for a 'conventional' marriage.

A public forum on covenant marriage was held at the State Capitol in 1998 and featured the Louisiana legislator (an Oklahoma native) who authored the first covenant marriage legislation in the nation. Covenant marriage bills were introduced in the Oklahoma Legislature in 1999, 2000 and 2002, but so far the concept has been rejected, records reflect.

-30-

  ¶ 9:17 AM