Cutting ties with a spouse could get more complicated in Kansas, thanks to a new piece of legislation introduced in the state House.
The bill, authored by Rep. John Bradford (R-Lansing) and introduced Thursday by Rep. Keith Esau (R-Olathe), will do away with divorces based on “incompatibility,” instead requiring couples to give one of 10 specific reasons for their divorce, eight of which came as replacements for the blanket term.
Instead, acceptable reasons for divorce would be limited to adultery, a felony conviction, abandoning the home for one year, sexual or physical abuse, separating for two years, failure to “perform a marital duty or obligation” or mental illness. Additionally, there is a provision for “no fault of either spouse,” contrary to some of the hype circulating about the bill.
Bradford is not a member of the House Judiciary Committee, which is why Esau brought forward the bill on behalf of him. Esau himself seemingly supports even stricter divorce regulations than what is written in the bill.
“No-fault divorce gives people an easy out instead of working at it,” Esau told the The Wichita Eagle. “It would be my hope that they could work out their incompatibilities and learn to work together on things.”
Rep. Jim Ward (D-Wichita), who is also on the Committee, is openly opposing the bill.
“We really should let people decide when to end relationships,” he told the paper.
Some media outlets originally reported that Bradford was doing away with “no-fault” divorce, something that the state Representative denied. The Eagle then pointed to a reference to his campaign website, promising to do away with “no-fault divorce.”
That reference has since been removed from the site, after Bradford told the paper it was incorrect.
