Excellent Book

Published at SmartMarriages

BOOK ENDRSEMENT
STOLEN VOWS by Judy Parejko
Review by Robert L. Plunkett

With Stolen Vows, Judy Parejko has written an insightful and potentially important book about divorce. In it, she concentrates on two stories, the one about her experiences as a divorce mediator who broke the unspoken cardinal rule of that profession; she actually tried to save the marriages of the people before, and consequently lost her career.

The other is the history of how groups of slick lawyers, divorcing men and politicians pulled a sleight of hand, which stole the marriage vows from us.Though the author's personal story begins first, the latter story, the political history is the cause of her career saga.

In the 1960's we had a divorce system, which was in need of some first aid. The divorce rate was rising and the integrity of the courts was being compromised by fraudulent misuse of the traditional system. In came some well-meaning intellectuals with a solution, eliminate the element of fault from divorce in cases of truly hopeless marriages and bring a marriage hospital to the aid of the rest.

Society brought who they thought was Dr. Welby to the rescue of marriage, only to find that they had hired Dr. Kevorkian. To make a long story short, the politicians, including some specifically seeking a way out of giving their soon-to-be ex-wives their due, abandoned the idea of the marriage hospital and put into place a system of divorce for the asking. This has robbed marriage of its essential meaning and has left a holocaust of broken homes in its wake.

Before I had read this book, I was aware of the general history of the switch to no-fault, but had no idea of the extent that the project was a bait-and-switch operation. This story by itself, told blow by blow, is worth the price of the book.

The second story, illustrates how a divorce industry has grown like triffidsin the wake of no fault. The last thing the courts, the lawyers and the rest of that industry want is to save marriages. The author shows how the system stacks the deck against reconciliation and in favor of its vested interest of breaking up marriages.
Finally, the author does suggest a plan of action, including changing the law and actually having the marriage hospitals which had been the first idea that led to the larceny which is the present system of divorce.

Everyone who cares about the future of the family should read this book.

Robert L. Plunkett is an attorney, a college, university, and law school instructor,
former Vice Dean of the Southern California Institute of Law as well as a writer on divorce and other subjects.
His commentary on no-fault divorce, Vow for Now, appeared in the
May 29, 1995, issue of NationalReview.

Stolen Vows: The Illusion of No-Fault Divorce and the Rise of the American Divorce Industry may be ordered on-line at www.stolenvows.com.

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