Right to Divorce

Abstract

In the course of the last two decades, divorce underwent significant changes. The failure of community life has become a socially relevant fact only in respect of the consequences of divorce. The divorce itself is increasingly less regulated and such liberal attitude decreases the social significance of marriage.

There are different concepts of divorce: divorce by default of one of the spouses, dissolution of marriage, judicial separation, divorce by mutual consent of the spouses, etc. Opting for one of the concepts points to the significance of the cause of divorce while in some juridical systems only the divorce procedure lies in the domain of legal proceedings.

Standing Yugoslav marriage law reflects all the dilemmas concerning divorce. If the intention was to increase the social significance of marriage, courts would be empowered to deny divorce on grounds of financial distress or obvious injustice to one of the spouses. As the divorce procedure is given the emphasis, the procedure of mediation gains in significance. As a result, divorce on longer represents just a remedy but becomes a responsible divorce.