Critics claim that reintroducing fault would only fuel hostilities in failing marriages. But others point out that fault has not really disappeared from divorce proceedings, it just insinuates itself into battles over alimony payments, division of property, and child custody. More importantly, they say, divorce laws ought to contain notions of objective fault to signal society's disapproval of certain kinds of behavior. Guilt and shame, if our society can restore it, often controls human behavior. Maggie Gallagher, the author of The Abolition of Marriage, suggests that no-fault laws may even increase the likelihood of domestic violence by failing to identify and punish men financially for their marital crimes.
Domestic violence is a clear ground for divorce under covenant marriage-a first for Louisiana law.
Couples deal much more realistically with their lives when they face the issue of fault where it can be identified. The Law as Tutor Feminists and other no-fault defenders argue it is a mistake to blame divorce laws for failed marriages. But pastors in the trenches of marital counseling say the message and mechanism of no-fault make it much harder to hold couples together. Lawmakers and nationwide want more couples to close the deal-and keep it closed. At least 24 states are considering covenant marriage legislation.