Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-c9gpj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-10T14:31:52.308Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Another Look at No-Fault Divorce and the Post-Divorce Finances of Women

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2024

Herbert Jacob
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Recent studies by Weitzman (1985) and Peters (1986) suggest that no-fault divorce has harmed women. The research presented here tests these findings by examining the effects of no-fault divorce on the financial situation of women using data on salary and wage income, home ownership, and child support from the National Longitudinal Surveys (NLS) of Labor Market Experience (Ohio State University Center for Human Resource Research [OSU], 1986) young women's cohort. The analyses do not support the hypothesis that no-fault divorce produces adverse financial effects. Rather, it appears that no-fault has had little effect on women's finances. Alternative models that might explain how divorce law affects the financial condition of women are suggested.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , 1989 , pp. 95 - 115
Copyright
Copyright © 1989 The Law and Society Association.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BAHR, Stephen J. (1983) “Marital Dissolution Laws: Impact of Recent Changes for Women,” 4 Journal of Family Issues 455.Google Scholar
BIANCHI, Suzanne M., and Daphne, SPAIN (1986) American Women in Transition. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
BLUMSTEIN, Alfred, Jacqueline, COHEN, and Daniel, NAGIN (eds.) (1978) Deterrence and Incapacitation: Estimating the Effects of Criminal Sanctions on Crime Rates. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar
BURSTEIN, Paul, and Kathleen, MONAGHAN (1986) “Equal Employment Opportunity and the Mobilization of Law,” 20 Law & Society Review 355.Google Scholar
CHEADLE, Elizabeth A. (1981) “The Development of Sharing Principles in Common Law Marital Property States,” 28 UCLA Law Review 1269.Google Scholar
CONGRESSIONAL ALMANAC (1984) 40 Congressional Almanac 164.Google Scholar
ERLANGER, Howard S., Elizabeth, CHAMBLISS, and Marygold S., MELLI (1987) “Participation and Flexibility in Informal Processes: Cautions from the Divorce Context,” 21 Law & Society Review 585.Google Scholar
FRANK, Alan H., John J., BERMAN, and Stanley F., MAZUR-HART (1978) “No Fault Divorce and the Divorce Rate: The Nebraska Experience—An Interrupted Time Series Analysis and Commentary,” 58 Nebraska Law Review 1.Google Scholar
FREED, Doris Jonas, and Timothy B., WALKER (1985) “Family Law in the Fifty States: An Overview,” 8 Family Law Quarterly 369.Google Scholar
GERSON, Kathleen (1985) Hard Choices: How Women Decide About Work, Career, and Motherhood. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
GLICK, Paul C., and Sung-Ling, LIN (1986) “Recent Changes in Divorce and Remarriage,” 48 Journal of Marriage and the Family 737.Google Scholar
GLICK, Paul C., and Arthur J., NORTON (1971) “Frequency, Duration, and Probability of Marriage and Divorce,” 33 Journal of Marriage and the Family 307.Google Scholar
JOHNSON, Charles A., and Bradley C., CANON (1984) Judicial Policies: Implementation and Impact. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Press.Google Scholar
KAY, Herma Hill (1987) “Equality and Difference: A Perspective on No-Fault Divorce and Its Aftermath,” 56 University of Cincinnati Law Review 1.Google Scholar
MACAULAY, Stewart (1979) “Lawyers and Consumer Protection Laws,” 14 Law & Society Review 171.Google Scholar
MCNEIL, Kenneth, John R., NEVIN, David M., TRUBEK, and Richard E., MILLER (1979) “Market Discrimination Against the Poor and the Impact of Consumer Disclosure Laws: The Used Car Industry,” 13 Law & Society Review 695.Google Scholar
MOTT, Frank L., and Sylvia F., MOORE (1978) “The Causes and Consequences of Marital Breakdown,” in Mott, F. L. (ed.), Women, Work, and Family: Dimensions of Change in American Society. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
MOTT, Frank L., and David, SHAPIRO (1982) “Continuity of Work Attachment Among New Mothers,” in Mott, F. L. (ed.), The Employment Revolution: Young American Women in the 1970s. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
OSU: OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR HUMAN RESOURCE RESEARCH (1986) Handbook: The National Longitudinal Surveys. Columbus: Ohio State University Center for Human Resource Research.Google Scholar
PETERS, H. Elizabeth (1986) “Marriage and Divorce: Informational Constraints and Private Contracting,” 76 American Economic Review 437.Google Scholar
ROSS, H. Laurence, and James P., FOLEY (1987) “Judicial Disobedience of the Mandate to Imprison Drunk Drivers,” 21 Law & Society Review 315.Google Scholar
RYSCAVAGE, Paul (1986) “Income: Who Gets What from Where,” 8 American Demographics 22.Google Scholar
SARAT, Austin, and William L. F., FELSTINER (1986) “Law & Strategy in the Divorce Lawyer's Office,” 20 Law & Society Review 79.Google Scholar
SCHOEN, Robert, Harry N., GREENBLATT, and Robert B., MIELKE (1975) “California's Experience with Non-Adversary Divorce,” 12 Demography 223.Google Scholar
SEPLER, Harvey J. (1981) “Measuring the Effects of No-Fault Divorce Laws Across the Fifty States: Quantifying a Zeitgeist,” 15 Family Law Quarterly 65.Google Scholar
SOUTH, Scott J., and Glenna, SPITZE (1986) “Determinants of Divorce over the Marital Life Course,” 51 American Sociological Review 583.Google Scholar
SPITZE, Glenna, and Scott J., SOUTH (1985) “Women's Employment, Time Expenditure and Divorce,” 6 Journal of Family Issues 307.Google Scholar
STIGLER, George J. (1975) Citizen and the State: Essays on Regulation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
U.S. BUREAU OF THE CENSUS (1986) Child Support and Alimony: 1983. Current Population Reports, Special Studies Series P-23, No. 148. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
U.S. BUREAU OF THE CENSUS (1981) Child Support and Alimony: 1978. Current Population Reports, Special Studies Series P-23, No. 112. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
WEITZMAN, Lenore J. (1985) The Divorce Revolution: The Unexpected Social and Economic Consequences for Women and Children in America. New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
WEITZMAN, Lenore J., and Ruth B., DIXON (1980) “The Alimony Myth: Does No-Fault Make a Difference?,” 14 Family Law Quarterly 141.Google Scholar
ZIMRING, Franklin E., and Gordon J., HAWKINS (1973) Deterrence. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar