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Delaying Divorce: Pitfalls of Restrictive Divorce Requirements

Journal of Family Issues

Published online on

Abstract

A period of separation is a ground for divorce in some countries. During this waiting period, some parents live apart in two separate residences, while other parents live apart in one residence. In this article, I examine the experiences of fathers who remain living in the same residence as their former partners and the experiences of a number of fathers who had to move out of the family home and live in a separate residence after the decision to separate. The findings show that restrictive divorce policies that delay divorce potentially create a situation of prolonged boundary ambiguity which complicate the process of renegotiating boundaries between parenting and former spousal relationships on divorce. The article argues that for a sample of divorced fathers, the policies that require a prolonged waiting period relate in some way to issues of unclear boundaries.