Divorce and the Living Death

[marta_bee]

Several weeks ago, Pat Robertson made some comments on his show the 700 club that rocked the Christian blogosphere. Several weeks later people are still writing about it. I'm hardly a regular watcher of the 700 Club(!) but if you read any news site or blog that discusses theology, religion and politics, or other related issues from a Protestant

Comments

[azalaisdep]

One of the things to bear in mind about advanced Alzheimer's (based on family experience) is that not only may the person with it not recognise their spouse any more, they may well at times be very unpleasant, highly aggressive, even violent towards them. In many cases someone with advanced Alzheimer's really can't be safely cared for at home any more (especially since, given the nature of the disease, their spouse is themselves usually elderly and may be frail

[ianracey]

I'm unaware of any jurisdiction in the United States that requires both parties to consent to a divorce. The basic principle of no-fault divorce is that one party merely has to cite "irreconcilable differences", and the divorce will be granted, regardless of the other party's wishes.

Division of marriage assets is another matter. I'd assume this guy has power of attorney for his wife by this point, but still. If I were the judge receiving this divorce petition, I'd feel icky about letting one party divide both parties' assets, even if that were a legal option and even if I were satisfied that this guy still cared for his ex-wife and still fully understood his moral obligation to her (which, frankly, I expect he does, considering that he had such a crisis of faith over it that he called Pat Robertson to ask for an okay about leaving his invalid wife for another woman). One possible solution that occurs to me is the court ordering the establishment of a trust that will see to the ex-wife's financial well-being.