Marriage Licenses should come with an expiration date

[Cronus Protagonist]

So you have to renew them every 5 years or so, like a green card. That would solve a lot of problems in the US.

[bunnies]

1. Marriage licenses *do* come with an expiration date.

You need the license to get married, not BE married.

[notadmblnd]

3. I thought you was going to say "till death do us part"

[bunnies]

8. heh. If that were the case I'd have a couple of dead x's.

:hide:

[notadmblnd]

13. LOL, spouses, ya can't live with them; can't get away with killing them

:shrug:

[bunnies]

15. aint that the truth!

:toast:

[Cronus Protagonist]

17. Ya can still live without them!

And booty calls are much hotter than marital sex anyways... :P

[notadmblnd]

21. yeah, you can live with out em, but it'll cost ya.

[Cronus Protagonist]

36. No kidding :P

[nichomachus]

25. Or as Norm said on Cheers

"You can't live with 'em . . . . pass the beer nuts."

[MADem]

9. You're right--they're usually only good for a certain period. nt

[notadmblnd]

2. and open an entire new market speeding up the asset division process

[MADem]

4. Yeah, the kids would just love that, having to wonder if Ma or Pa will up and leave every five years

I think a better solution is for people to not marry because other people think they should.

It should be a mature decision, taken after careful consideration.

[hobbit709]

5. If it cost $10 to get a divorce and $10K to get married.

I t might be better too.

[Cronus Protagonist]

11. hehe - I like it!

You know for sure that the person you're with actually wants to be with you.

[nichomachus]

26. I used to work in divorce court

and I wish I had a dollar for every person who said to me, "If it was as hard to get married as it is to get divorced, there would be a lot fewer marriages."

[derby378]

6. Are you proposing we move our nation's capitol to Las Vegas?

Logistically, that's the only way it's gonna work.

[GodlessBiker]

7. Forget that. Marriages should come with an expiration date. You should have to...

affirmatively re-enlist.

[Cronus Protagonist]

12. Well, that's what I meant

I was thinking of a license to BE married, not the GET married :P

[av8rdave]

10. Wasn't there a legislator in Germany that proposed exactly that a few years ago?

It's a GREAT idea!

[gollygee]

14. What problems would it solve?

And why should I have to go through the trouble of re-marrying every few years? That's silly. We already have passports, my husband's greencard, and stuff like that to deal with. We don't need any more bureaucracy, thanks.

[Cronus Protagonist]

18. You must have missed my sig line

And don't take everything too seriously, will ya? Life's too short.

[MajorChode]

16. I'm not sure what problems that would solve

Here in Texas, you just take your spouse on a hunting trip when you've had enough. It's much cheaper and easier than a divorce.

[DavidDvorkin]

19. It usually takes more than 5 years to work the bugs out.

[seabeyond]

20. and then some of us are 14 yrs in and never more happy and satisfied

and looking forward to another thirty.

we dont need an out every 5 years....

[nichomachus]

29. It wouldn't be a requirement n/t

[ddeclue]

22. Yeah because LOTS of women would sign up for THAT deal...

"Term" marriage with an expiration date and no requirement for their husbands to divorce them..

:rofl:

[seabeyond]

24. right... that really stupid talk that only women want marriage....

rollin eyes...

[ddeclue]

27. no but women have more to lose in a divorce if they can't get one.

[seabeyond]

31. 50/50... i dont see where the worry is. n/t

[ddeclue]

32. Women are the ones usually left with the kids

and women generally don't make as much as their spouses.

Doug D.

[seabeyond]

33. women are generally the ones even making less working 40 hrs a week

doing the majority of housework and caregiving to the kids (without pay).

50/50

[ddeclue]

34. Well I'm single and do my own dishes (without a dishwasher) and laundry.

I don't expect a woman to pick up after me.

[seabeyond]

35. i was single and did my own too. really had nothing to do with us when single

did it

[treestar]

28. It would work both ways

It would put some pressure on the relationship, though. Not being sure the other party would want to renew, or whether oneself might want to. But it might be no worse than wondering when your spouse was going to walk out on you at any time.

Maybe a complement - no divorce during each five years. So you'd have to be committed to the next five years, which might be more than people end up committed to the usual way.

[ddeclue]

30. how about we respect people's right to stay married or get divorced on their own timetable

instead of trying to force one on them?

[Cronus Protagonist]

37. Gosh, no one proposed anyone else's timetable - if you want to choose to stay married

Or not.

[treestar]

40. It would be a trade off

You'd have an out you don't normally have. But couldn't get out in the meantime, but not for life.

People used to be able to handle it for life; now a five year committment is too much!

After having handled several family law cases, I believe society is entitled to make people stay married until their kids are grown! Custody and visitation fights are generally sickening. Have kids with someone and you should be stuck with them until the kids are grown. Is that so much to ask of people? Outside of battered wives, that is. Just the type who want out because they "aren't happy" (who is, all the time?) or because the "romance is dead." (Isn't that a normal part of it all?).

By the time they are done fighting I sometimes wonder if it could have been worse than the divorce. All the bitterness caused by the divorce seems worse than not having the perfect spouse.

[seabeyond]

42. i spent the other day listening

to a lot of men on various boards and blogs talking about relationships, emotions, marriages. and man.....

was a wow

but what got me was the equal number of men wanting to fix their marraige having thought all was well as what we assumed women wanted. there was not the differences that our society likes to pretend. and that whole issue of children was big. another consistent was not happier when they were out. the grass wasnt greener. and it was too late.

it really made me appreciate my marriage all the more and i felt pretty strongly about it in the first place.

[treestar]

23. The wedding industry should donate a lot of money to that cause

A whole tradition around "renewal" could develop. Every couple could have something every five years.

Family law might get more complicated however. What to do with the couples who stay together and fail to renew, but later want to split up. That would develop some interesting legal questions.

[Cronus Protagonist]

38. Attorneys should support it too, then!

And, of course all of these should support same sex marriage for the same reasons :P

[treestar]

41. Attorneys could definitely see a lot more cases

Then again, they'd be family law cases, and those are more stressful than they are worth! Everybody thinks you can legally order perfect vengeance on the other partner! (Or force them to become the perfect mate).

[JitterbugPerfume]

39. mine did

it's called divorce:hide:

[cobalt1999]

43. I like it. My wife and I would be required to take a trip to Vegas every 5 years to re-new.

I'd never do better than her.

[TroglodyteScholar]

44. "Till an arbitrary expiration date established by vote of the state legislature do us part"...

...just doesn't have the same ring to it.