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 News from Around the Americas | September 2005 
Colombia to Offer Real Quickie Divorce - 1 Hour for Less Than $20
 Canadian Press
| | The measure would apply only to Colombians and foreigners married to Colombians if the wedding took place in Colombia. |
Bogota, Colombia - Lawyer fees, legal hurdles and months if not years of waiting are what many unhappy couples can expect before a divorce but a new Colombian measure would allow couples to untie the knot in as little as an hour for the equivalent of $18 Cdn.
More than one million Colombian couples are waiting to have their divorce cases settled - all part of a backlog that has tied up the South American country's courts, said Manuel Cuello, superintendent of the National Registrar.
But a law to ease the process was passed by Congress in July and President Alvaro Uribe's office said Monday the Colombian leader is expected to sign it into law within weeks.
"The aim is to make life easier for Colombians," Cuello said.
"Getting divorced should not be such a bureaucratic ordeal."
Roman Catholic officials insist the measure will only encourage couples to seek a divorce rather than work out their differences.
"It will precipitate the deterioration of the family," said Msgr. Juan Vicente Cordoba, auxiliary bishop of the northern city Bucaramanga and an ethics expert.
"We will end up with a more unstable society and unstable children. Marriage vows should not be taken lightly."
Under the Colombian proposal, couples without minor children who agree to a divorce would no longer need to appear before a judge but can instead head to their local registrar office with a jointly signed declaration that would then be stamped by an official within an hour.
A separate declaration must be drawn up spelling out any division of assets. If they have children, then the couple must explain their custody plans to a family affairs official who either issues a certificate authorizing the divorce or sends the case to the courts.
The measure would apply only to Colombians and foreigners married to Colombians if the wedding took place in Colombia, the national registrar's office said.
Cuello said the pending law has already generated considerable interest.
"We have had hundreds of impatient couples asking to be divorced at notary offices but we have to explain that there are still some legal procedures to be completed before the measure takes effect," he said. |
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