A Proposal to Reduce Unnecessary Divorce - Razorplanet

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These costs arise from increased taxpayer expenditures for antipoverty, criminal
justice, and education programs, and through lower levels of taxes paid by
individuals who, as adults, earn less because of reduced opportunities as a result
of having been more likely to grow up in poverty. If, as research suggests
is likely, marriage has additional benefits to children, adults, and communities,
and if those benefits are in areas other than increased income levels, then the
actual taxpayer costs of divorce and unwed childbearing are likely much higher.
The researchers adopted the simplifying and extremely cautious assumption
that all of the taxpayer costs of divorce and unmarried childbearing stem from
the effects that family fragmentation has on poverty, a causal mechanism that is
well-accepted and has been reasonably well-quantified in the literature.
Another study focusing solely on divorce estimated that divorces in the year
2001 cost state and federal governments about $33 billion. An average divorce
in 2001 cost taxpayers over $30,000, based on factors such as higher use of food
stamps and public housing along with increased rates of bankruptcies and juvenile
delinquency. The public cost per household was $312. These figures did
not include additional expenses in areas such as health care and incarceration. 10
The clear implication from emerging research is that even very small increases
in stable marriage rates would result in significant savings for taxpayers.
MANY DIVORCES MAY BE PREVENTABLE
According to conventional wisdom, when a couple files for divorce, that marriage
is essentially over.
But we now know that this conventional wisdom just ain’t so.
New research shows that about 40 percent of U.S. couples already well into
the divorce process say that one or both of them are interested in the possibility
of reconciliation. 11
This finding is stunning. It tells us that we have a major new opportunity to
help millions of American families and to strengthen our society.
Let us tell you a bit more about this important concept.