‘I just want to leave him, but I can’t afford it’

[katty]

more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27808110/

‘I just want to leave him, but I can’t afford it’

Unhappy couples staying together as economy makes divorcing too costly

Nov. 12: Money issues are making it too expensive for some couples to pursue a divorce. Amanda Ober of NBC affiliate WESH in Orando, Fla., reports.

Alex Johnson
Reporter

The economic crisis may be doing what pastors, family therapists and matrimonial counselors have long struggled to accomplish: keeping troubled marriages together.

Marriage counselors and divorce lawyers nationwide say more distressed couples are putting off divorce because the cost of splitting up is prohibitive in a time of stagnant salaries, plummeting home values and rising unemployment.

While the stress of economic uncertainty often worsens already shaky unions, it also can make couples more financially dependent on each other, said Pamela Smock, a researcher at the Population Studies Center at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

[phantom power]

1. There's a sure-fire recipe for marital abuse.

:evilfrown:

[EFerrari]

2. I don't know. My first husband and I lived together for a year

after we decided to split up. We had two small kids and were both students. The divorce was very civil. Maybe we were too busy working and going to school to get into it.

[phantom power]

5. True. I guess I didn't say what I actually meant...

What I meant was, we can expect an increase in marital abuse. In marriages that were at risk for such a problem to begin with.

[EFerrari]

7. Yep. And even from the stress of hard times in the first place.

We were poor but that wasn't a change for us and so, not as stressful.

[Warpy]

8. I lived with my ex for a while after the divorce

and it was remarkably civil, especially after his lawyer told him what a good deal he was getting.

I never did hate the guy and we'd still be good friends if the next several wives hadn't been the jealous type.

[BOSSHOG]

3. bush's Sunny Marriage Initiative

In a brilliant rovian conservative spin on this sad situation, the republican party touts bush's last initiative as a sign of his christian love. He ruined the enonomy to save marriages. One would think Prop Eight would have singlehandedly taken care of it. One word describes the response from free republic - "isn't he great right to the end caring about us one and all?"

No sarcasm emoticon ever!! "One word."

[Captain Hilts]

4. You can also lose employer-provided healthcare. nt

[QueenOfCalifornia]

6. I thought

this was about Colmes leaving Hannity. :)