It’s
all about protecting the kids.
nd3000/Shutterstock
-
Denmark,
one of the world’s happiest countries, has the highest divorce
rate in western Europe. -
Currently, couples there can complete an online form,
pay a $60 fee, and get a divorce in less than a week. -
New rules set to go into effect next year would require
couples with kids to go through a three-week “reflection
period” and get free counseling before a divorce is made
final.
Denmark is consistently ranked as one of the
happiest countries in the world. It also has the
highest divorce rate in western Europe: Nearly half of all
marriages ended in divorce as of 2017.
One reason for the relatively high divorce rate might be that
splitting up in Denmark is a relatively seamless process.
The New York Times reported that couples can complete an
online form, pay a $60 fee, and get a
divorce in less than a week.
Yet according to The Times, all that could change next year, when
new rules around the divorce process are set to go into effect.
Couples who have children and want to dissolve their marriage
will now be required to take a three-month “reflection period”
and get free counseling before they’re granted a divorce. The
goal is to protect children, who will also receive counseling
during this time.
As for couples without kids — and in cases of abuse — a speedier
divorce will still be possible.
Kathryn Smerling, a New
York City-based psychotherapist who helps couples going through
divorce, told Business Insider that Denmark’s current divorce
process is “absolutely an anathema towards emotional wellbeing
and health.”
On the other hand, “the idea of a three-month reflection period
is actually a wonderful idea when there are children involved,”
Smerling added.
“Marriage and families are not disposable. You do need time to
think about how you’re going to deal with the children, how
you’re going to tell the children, how are the children going to
live with both [parents] if they’re going to do that.”
Divorce in the US is often much more complicated
In the US, divorce is typically a much lengthier and more
expensive process. The
average divorce filing fee is $215; the average divorce
attorney’s fees are $10,180. (One lawyer
previously told Business Insider that a divorce in Manhattan
can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.)
Smerling said she has couples in her practice who have been
trying to get divorced for half a decade, held up by things like
delayed court dates.
But as INSIDER’s Louis
Baragona reported, celebrity-divorce lawyer Laura Wasser
recently launched a website that gives couples the tools to get
divorced online. The site, It’s Over Easy, is only
available to couples in California and New York, and the cost of
the process starts at $750.
Smerling said divorce is a completely different story for couples
with and without kids. In the latter circumstance, she said,
“It’s very easy to say goodbye and you never see the person
again.”
