Montana Balks at Mandatory Divorce Counseling

Efforts to mandate that couples with minor children undergo counseling prior to getting a divorce in Montana have been defeated be a 60 to 40 vote in the GOP-controlled State House. More than two dozen Republicans joined minority Democrats to reiterate that the state has no business telling adults they have to get counseling before they can get a divorce in the state. State legislators from both parties agreed that people getting divorced can make their own decisions on counseling, and that mandatory counseling constitutes an unfair and expensive burden on people who are already in a stressful situation.

Republican majority leader Tom McGillvray disagreed and said he felt that Montana has a definite interest in mandating divorce counseling because divorce so often puts kids into poverty that results in more strain on expensive state social services. Apparently his fellow legislators felt the imposition of mandatory counseling was the greater evil and pushed back the bill.