Divorce law in Mexico City will destroy the family, experts warn

Mexico City, Mexico, Mar 17, 2011 / 14:05 pm

The Supreme Court of Mexico's decision to uphold a “fast track divorce” law promotes the destruction of the family, various family experts are warning.

On March 8 the Supreme Court declared the reforms carried out in October 2008 by the Mexico City Legislative Assembly to be constitutional. The legislation allows one spouse to request and obtain a divorce without the agreement of the other.

The law requires that petitioners have been married at least for one year, that one of the spouses wishes to divorce and that his or her most recent address be in Mexico City.

Speaking with the news service of the Archdiocese of Mexico, Patricia Becerra, an expert on the theology of marriage, said the approval of the norm will result in “the trivialization of marriage and an aberration, because it violates two significant juridical principles.”

“The first is that no contract can grant one party the power to dissolve without the consent of the other,” Becerra said. “The second is that no one can use one’s bad faith to his or her own benefit.” The new law grants a divorce even though one of the parties is willing to forgive and fight to save the marriage, leaving the matter to the decision of one person in a contract that is the will of two, she said.

“Before, at least the judge took pains to say to couples that the government did not want them to divorce, but now in Mexico City that intention has changed and it seems that the government wants families to separate.”

Becerra argued that judges and lawyers are the ones who benefit most from the new law, because now divorces in Mexico City will become “quick and less burdensome.”

“There are many ways to strive for reconciliation between spouses and achieve forgiveness before resorting to separation,” she added.

In a statement published on March 14, the news service of the Archdiocese of Mexico City said, “Uniting together in the hope of having a life-long union is the initial dream of every couple that decides to marry. However, in many cases, that dream is obscured by the difficulties of daily life, by common failings such as the lack of communication, the inability to forgive and selfishness.”

Alberto and Marilu Villasenor, directors of Marriage Encounter in the archdiocese, said, “In our view, the first mistake is the lack of preparation before marriage, and that is the root of most of the problems that lead couples to divorce.”

Other problems “include the lack of communication, not knowing how to forgive, the lack of commitment and of love of God,” they said.

“Add to this the ease with which couples can get divorced in Mexico City after this new ‘fast-track’ law was passed, by which that dream of ‘till death do us part’ is broken,” the couple said.