How can this be? No other contract can be unilaterally "dissolved" if ONE party "ain't happy." And certainly no Catholic can enter into a so-alled "marriage" with the pre-existing intention that the relationship is dissolvable. Such a "marriage" would be null in the eyes of the Church.
Plus, I always thought that a no-fault divorce can only be obtained if both parties want it, and there are no children. If one party doesn't want to divorce, it's a contested divorce, isn't it? (Sincere question. I'm no lawyer, just an interested party trying to figure this out.)
It means that a person is legally entitled to obtain a divorce without having to show fault by the other person. Used to be you had to show that the other person did something wrong, like adultery, before you could just walk out on your marriage without having consequences imposed upon you by the court. No more.
It depends on state law, but the courts continue to hold marriage as an institution. Otherwise people would divorce under the laws of the date of marriage formation.
In addition child support could never be modified or altered without the consent of the married/divorced.
No fault is just that, ONE person decides the marriage is over and just swears that under oath, WITHOUT OTHER EVIDENCE, and the judge MUST (as a matter of law) grant the divorce.
How property and children are divided is a seperate issue.
Having children is irrelevent. No fault is a UNILATERAL petition. No consent required.
One of the claims was that no fault would prevent dirty laundry from being aired in the courts. Now it is even worse. (see the 1990's with rampant false abuse charges for legal advatage in custody matters.)
I don't know of any states that have this rule. No fault is generally granted when one party requests it. Contested divorce is only allowed in States that still have that system. I don't know of any.
"No other contract can be unilaterally "dissolved" if ONE party "ain't happy.""
LOL! It depends. Enforcing a contract requires that money be spent on atty. services. The value of the contract must be weighed against the projected loss of enforcing it. In general, if the action is against a company with substantial assets, enforcing a contract with that company will cost more than it's worth. The large company will just play games in court to purposely expend the smaller company's funds. The same game can be played in divorce court over separation details.
"no Catholic can enter into a so-alled "marriage" with the pre-existing intention that the relationship is dissolvable. Such a "marriage" would be null in the eyes of the Church."
One of the parties can always get a civil divorce and then unilaterally apply for the annulment from the Church. The American Church will then grant the annulment, regardless of the other party's contest. The other party can appeal to Rome, but by the time an answer is given, the other party is in a new civil marriage and the kids are grown.