Lenny1970
Re: Civil Divorce Laws (CT)
If a spouse files for divorce and meets all the filing/counseling requirements the Civil Court MUST grant a divorce.
This is NOT what No Fault Divorce means. No Fault Divorce means that in an uncontested divorce the court cannot weigh fault of one party (adultery, cruelty, desertion, etc.) in determining how marital assets will be split.
In a contested divorce, e.g. husband wants a divorce, wife doesn’t…wife was caught cheating on husband with another man, the court can apportion fault and reduce the share of marital assets. This has nothing to do with alimony or child support which follow state guidelines (which do allow for deviation for special circumstances).
Joseph…
I have seen/heard your point about a Get Me’usa before. In these cases the Civil court is not forcing the recalcitrant husband to issue the Get. He is reminded of the binding contract he signed before marriage and is given 30 days to cure the breach or be held liable for damages. If he chooses to cure the breach by going to the Beis Din and then giving the Get it has been considered valid by our LORs as well as some poskim who have been consulted. This is not a case where a civil court judge says comply or go to jail. The breach of the prenuptial agreement is a contract law issue and the penalty for breach is to pay damages.
BTW here in CT if a couple obtains a Get from a recognizable Beis Din before going for a Civil Divorce, judges tend to enter the Jewish Divorce into the record and only deal with custody, visitation and financial matters.