Divorce becomes next battleground as states debate family values

Two years. That’s how long a Virginia mom and dentist, Cerina Fairfax, says she was stuck living under the same roof as her husband while trying to get divorced, because state law makes couples with kids wait. Whatever you think of divorce culturally, that’s not family stability, it’s family limbo. For a lot of people it’s not a thoughtful “cooling off” period. It’s a forced cohabitation experiment with kids watching every tense dinner and every closed-door argument.

States are now treating divorce like the next big values battlefield, and we get the instinct. Marriage matters. Kids matter. People shouldn’t bolt at the first rough patch. But the law can’t pretend every marriage is a Hallmark misunderstanding. Some separations are already finished long before the paperwork starts. And in the real world, when you make the process drag on, you don’t magically create reconciliation. You often just make it harder to leave safely and sanely.

There’s also a class angle nobody likes to admit. A well-off couple can rent a second place, hire lawyers, and keep things civil at arm’s length while the clock runs out. Regular people can’t. They do what Fairfax did: stay put, swallow the stress, and hope the kids don’t absorb it. If the point is protecting children, states should ask whether a mandated waiting period in a shared home actually protects them, or just makes adults better at hiding misery.

Conservatives don’t have to choose between “divorce should be easy” and “divorce should be impossible.” We can support marriage and still demand laws that match reality. If a state wants a waiting period, fine. But it should come with off-ramps for high-conflict situations, clearer standards, and a process that doesn’t trap parents in the same hallway for 24 months. A strong family policy starts with honest policy.