SELFISH INTENTIONS - K-REx - Kansas State University

would come to Kansas for the sole reason of a quick divorce; in effect, this statute would in his
view increase Kansas’ divorce rates, lower the state’s moral standard, and increase fraud.
Professor Higgins, who was commissioned to review the statute, responded to Judge
Higgins’s claim by explaining the statute change was not intended for this type of “shotgun”
divorce. Professor Higgins contended, “It was of the opinion of the committee that a non-
resident plaintiff in an action for divorce should be allowed to sue a resident defendant… It
therefore happens that all of the suggested changes were not adopted and that this intention was
not so clearly expressed as it would have been. However, I think the statute does reveal an
intention to permit a non-resident plaintiff to sue wherever the defendant resides or may be
summoned.” 101 Even though the commission did not intend for a loophole to occur, the wording
of the new statute allowed non-residents to petition for divorce in Kansas.
Even though state divorce records were unavailable for these years, a preliminary
examination of local data from Riley County showed a significant increase in divorces following
the 1909 change in the statute. Before the statute was changed, the Riley County records showed
the courts granted twenty-six divorces in 1908. Then in 1909, the number of divorces increased
to thirty-two. The year 1910 saw divorces decrease to twenty-seven, but in the next two years,
divorces significantly increased to thirty-eight in 1911 and 1912. 102 Although the statute
loophole is unlikely to be the only cause, if one examined county court records from counties on
the Kansas border, one would expect to find a significant increase in divorces in these areas due
to out-of-state couples using the loophole in the 1909 statute to their advantage.
During the 1912 Methodist Episcopal Church Kansas conference, the church found the
recent increase in divorces across the state alarming. Through this conference the church called
101 Ibid.
102 Riley County Divorce Records 1908-1912. Riley County Genealogical Society.
41