Counseling…Before Marriage?

In the excitement of getting married to the one that you love, no one wants to think about the ramifications or the pressures of the worst case scenario; which is fallen out of love and getting divorced.

The state of Utah should not enact a premarital education policy which only effects those getting married. The State should look toward other avenues to shift more of the costs of splitting up to those getting seperated. 

As of 2011, seven states have created premarital education incentives toward marriage licenses. These incentives is the reduction of the marriage license fees; due to the taking and participating in the premarital preparation courses. These states are providing these incentives in hopes of reducing divorce within the state.For instance Florida has a marriage license fee of $88.50, but if you take four hours of premarital education, the license fee is only $56; which is a saving of $32.50. Minnesota has a marriage fee of $100  but with 12 hours of premarital education, its only$30 ; which is a $70 saving. with Texas the fee is $60, with 8 hours of premarital education, the marriage license is free. At first glance, these look like great incentives to pull people to take these premarital classes. With further research, we find out that an average fifty minute premarital counseling session runs about $100. Looking back to Florida, 4 hours of counseling at $100 per hour comes to a total of $400, just to save $32.50. By taking the classes, you spend over $367 more for your marriage license then  by not taking the premarital courses. Minnesota had a $70 saving but with the 12 hours of counseling, you have to pay $1200 just to save that $70. In Texas, the marriage license fee with counseling is free, which is a savings of $60. But you need 8 hours of counseling. From a strictly financial point of view, taking these classes to save money on your marriage license is not practical. The cost of a Utah marriage license is only $30.

Times are changing. Accordingto the U.S. Census, divorce rates nation wide, over the past nineteen years, have declined steadily each year. At the same time, marriages have also declined. In 1990, the rate per 1000 population in marriages was 9.8. In 2009, it was 6.8. The rate in divorces 1990, per 1000 was 4.7. In 2009, it was 3.4. Overall marriages in 1990 were 2,443,000. The number of marriages in 2009 were 2,077,000, thats 366,000 less marriages over the nineteen years with a population growth of almost 61 million in the same nineteen years here in the U.S. A lot of this information could be due to that fact that not as many couples are not getting married. Which supports the decline in marriage and divorce rates. Many people don't want to deal with the hassle of getting married and don't feel that they need a piece of paper proving that they love one another. When these couples split up there is the same costs and social ramifications as those who are married and then getting divorced.

In Utah, divorces are declining and its not the premarital class incentives because we don't have them. Its due to the fact that our society is changing. Due to the decline of divorces in the nation, partly due to the societies views of marriage, another alternative to premarital education course need to be brought to bare. We spend billions of dollars due to the amount of divorces in the US. The money goes toward child support enforcement, Medicaid, and other government programs associated with divorces. An alternative to saving the government money is to have those, getting divorced or splitting up, pay more of the costs associated with the divorce or split. This can affect those who have been legally married and also those who have been married by common law, due to the amount of time being together. These extra costs can go towards the governments spending toward child support enforcement and Medicaid and other government programs. By doing this, it takes the strain of spending public money for these expenses and puts more of the financial burden on the individuals getting divorced.  In doing so, this will facilitate one of many outcomes. First, less divorces due to financial responsibilities. Second, going through counseling and other avenues to keep the marriage going instead of taking the divorce way out (it wont be as easy anymore). Or keeping with the trend of society, having less marriages and just living together.

The state of Utah should not enact premarital education policy. The State should look toward other avenues to shift more of the costs and responsibilities of splitting up to those getting seperated.