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Editorial Note: Readers are invited to respond with their views on this important subject.
After 56 years as a divorce lawyer, people may assume that I know a lot about marriage and, therefore, can easily answer the inevitable question "why do marriages fail?" Indeed, a divorce lawyer can relate much about his/her personal observation respecting this issue, anticipating that many will take exception to at least one or more of the following views.
INCREASED LIFE SPAN
I blame medical science for a significantly large percentage of failed marriages! During the past 100 years, the average life span of humans in the Western world has increased nearly 60 percent from the start of the 20th century (average 49 years) to 2010 (average 78 years). This increase alone has had an overpowering impact upon marriage, which is a static institution remaining unchanged from the dawn of time. It remains to be seen what civil union marriage will do to both the state of marriage (now at an all-time low) and the absolute numbers of divorce (without reference to customary marriages - as opposed to civil unions), which have fallen in recent years because of increasing disinterest by the young to legally engage in such relationships.
In past centuries, the young married very young, paralleling the onset of puberty, produced numerous children (many of whom died during their infancy_, and departed life in their 30's and 40's. Perhaps the greatest love story of all time, Romeo and Juliet, exemplifies this phenomenon with Juliet 14, and Romeo 16, yearning for the nuptial couch. They clearly were not unique in their era, and in many places throughout the world, such early teenage marriages continue as acceptable and are endorsed by cultural principals and religious adherence.
Quite clearly, a marriage duly made "until death do us part," that could be reasonably expected to endure 20 to 25 years at most, is a far different commitment made today, where joint lifespan can see marriages endure for 50, 60, and even 70 years! Clearly, then, medical science, which has so effectively increased the lifespan of people, must bear some responsibility for the proven fact that marriages of long duration enlarge inordinately the number of prospective clients who ultimately find their way to a...