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Show Divorce Laws 'Farce Utah Judge Avows By Dan Valentine "I can do more for a felon than I can do for a divorcee." That was Third District Court Judge Roald Hogensen'a answer to a question regarding the effectiveness effective-ness of Utah divorce laws. "A man committed of a felony . can come In my court have his case heard and, after a report from the adult probation and parole de- partment, be released for rehabilitation rehabili-tation under the court's supervision," super-vision," he said. "But a woman can appear for a divorce, submit the proper waivers from her husband and be granted a decree In a matter of minutes," he added. He said that under the six-month six-month waiting period stipulated by Utah law, the woman or the man Editor's aotet This Is the but of three articles explaining explain-ing the entanglements caused by Utah's strict divorce laws. securing the divorce is told to go out and try for a reconciliation. "However," Judge Hogensen continued, "the person involved la given no help whatsoever to salvage sal-vage his or her marriage." According to the judge, who has tried hundreds of divorce cases in Third district court the legal procedure pro-cedure of divorce in Utah is "just backwards." Need Divorce Specialist "I firmly believe," he said, "that there should be a trained jurist in the district court who would do nothing but hear divorce eases snd help bewildered married couples on See Page t. Column Judge Assails Divorce Lay Continued from Page One the brink of divorce to solve their differences with dignity." Hs said many marriages could bs salvaged with the proper help. This mythical divorce court suggested sug-gested by tie Judge would boast several trained marriage counselors coun-selors and investigators who would delve Into all divorce cases and make recommendations to the Judge. "If Investigation shows thst the party has a just cause for divorce, and that there is no hope of any suitable reconciliation, then the divorce should be granted immediately imme-diately without a six-month waiting wait-ing period," the judge said. "However," he added, "if the Investigation In-vestigation reveals thst the marriage mar-riage can be saved, the marriage counselors, the judge and the attorneys at-torneys would meet with the unhappy un-happy couple and try to work out a happy solution." Divorce is costing the state of Utah thousands and thousands of dollars each year In Indirect expenses ex-penses because of unhappy marriages. mar-riages. The relief rolls of the state are jammed with divorcees; juvenile delinquency is often attributed directly di-rectly to broken homes; unpsid bills art almost always Ufiia tiie wake of a divorce action. "Ethically, attorneys should always al-ways strive to salvage any marriage mar-riage before taking a divorce case," Judge Hogensen said. "But most lawyers are busy making a living. They haven't the time to spend hours with a client trying to reconcile re-concile a divorce-bound couple." He said that divorce cases are "a farce" in Utah. 'Two people who once loved each other get up before the court and throw insults at each other in a contested divorce di-vorce action," he said. "The goal of the lawyers is not to try to prove thst the msrriage could be saved, but rather, who Is the biggest big-gest scoundrel." With a trained divorce judge and a special staff of Investigators Investiga-tors it would be possible to stop making a "public displsy of divorce, di-vorce, the Judge said. Meanwhile, many couples In Utah are going blithely on their way feeling secure in the belief that they are divorced, when, in truth, they are still legally married. mar-ried. Judge Hogensen said that the easiest and surest way to dear up the legal muddle created by illegal il-legal marriages and unfinished divorces di-vorces is to abolish the six-month waiting period before a divorce decree de-cree becomes final. |
