ABSTRACT
The marriage and divorce trends in Australia, New Zealand and Canada are similar. Consequently, greater public demand for easier divorce, combined with backlogs in the divorce courts, forced governments to liberalise the laws in all three countries during the 1970s and 1980s, as we discuss later in this chapter. Divorce rates increased immediately after each legal change, suggesting that many people were waiting for divorce reform to formalise their marriage breakdown. Men are deterred from initiating a divorce because it is difficult and expensive, and because their legal obligation to support their ex-wife usually continues until her remarriage or death. Over the past century, attitudes and laws relating to divorce, the division of matrimonial property, spousal maintenance and child support have changed substantially. The former husband was ordered by the courts to pay alimony or spousal maintenance to his former wife until her death or remarriage.
