Everyday English

Number of divorces per 1,000 population
US	4.7	Austria	2.1
Latvia	4.2	Switzerland	2.0
Cuba	4.1	Kirgizstan	1.9
Russia	3.9	France	1.9
Estonia	3.7	Netherlands	1.9
Ukraine	3.7	Azerbaijan	1.6
Belorussia	3.4	Singapore	1.6
Lithuania	3.3	Kuwait	1.5
Canada	3.1	Tajikistan	1.5
Denmark	3.0	Uzbekistan	1.5
Finland	2.9	Georgia	1.4
U.K.	2.9	Romania	1.4
Kazakstan	2.8	Turkmenistan	1.4
Australia	2.5	Armenia	1.3
Hungary	2.4	Bulgaria	1.3
Norway	2.4	Israel	1.3
Germany	2.2	Japan	1.3
Sweden	2.2	Poland	0.9

The Cost of Divorce

(abridged)

by Barbara Wall

When divorce is inevitable, two questions are often foremost on the minds of those involved: how fast and how much? The answers depend on geography.

On the speed issue, the adage¹ “Marry in haste, repent at leisure” could be updated to “Marry in haste, divorce in the Dominican Republic”, where marriage bonds can be severed² within a matter of hours, saving spouses months, in some cases, years of delay.

In California³, that means a minimum stay of six months, whereas in Nevada⁴, it means six weeks. In some European countries the waiting period is much longer. In England, for example, couples can file for a divorce only after two-year separation. In Ireland, the waiting period is eternal - Irish authorities do not recognize divorce.

An overnight stop is usually all that is required to get a divorce in the Dominican⁵ Republic, and only one spouse needs to be present at the hearing. The drawback is that a Dominican divorce does not come cheap - about $5,000, according to one New-York-based divorce attorney.

Options for lower budgets include divorce-by-mail, often advertised for a flat fee of around $300. Peter Kenton, an American lawyer based in Paris, said companies that specialize in postal divorces are predominantly based in Puerto Rico^e and Mexico⁷. The problem with such discount-house approaches, however, is their international validity.

Notes:

¹ adage [Tedic^] - old and wise saying

² sever ['seva] - cut; break

³ California [,k®li'fo:nja]

⁴ Nevada [ne'vmda]

⁵ Dominican [da'minikan]

⁶ Puerto Rico ['pwa:tou 'ri:kou]

⁷ Mexico ['meksikou]

Topics for discussion and essays

1. Explain what a prenuptial agreement is and say whether such a pact is necessary in Russia. Why?

2. Compare the rate of divorces in different countries. Give your reasons for the difference.

3. Find out what the Family Law of Russia says about divorce.

“At Home” at Old Jolyon’s

(abridged)

by John Galsworthy

This was the occasion of an “at home” to celebrate the engagement of Miss June Forsyte, old Joyion’s granddaughter, to Mr Philip Bosinney. In the bravery of light gloves, buff waistcoats, feathers and frocks, the family were present - even Aunt Ann, who now but seldom left the corner of her brother Timothy’s¹ green drawing-room.

Over against the piano a man of bulk and stature was wearing two waistcoats on his wide chest, two waistcoats and a ruby pin, instead of the single satin waistcoat and diamond pin of more usual occasion, and his shaven, square, old face, the colour of pale leather, with pale eyes, had its most dignified look, above his satin stock. This was Swithin² Forsyte. Close to the window, where he could get more than his fair share of fresh air, the other twin, James - the fat and the lean of it, old Joyion called these brothers - like the bulky Swithin, over six feet in height, but very lean, as though destined from his birth to strike a balance and maintain an average, brooded over the scene with his permanent stoop; his grey eyes had an air of fixed absorption in some secret worry, broken at intervals by a rapid, shifting scrutiny of surrounding facts. Not far off, listening to a lady in brown, his only son Soames, pale and well-shaved, dark-haired, rather bald, had poked his chin up sideways. Behind him his cousin, the tall George, son of the fifth Forsyte, Rodger, had a Quilpish³ look on his fleshy face, pondering one of his sardonic jests.

Something inherent to the occasion had affected them all.

Seated in a row close to one another were three ladies - Aunts Ann, Hester (the two Forsyte maids), and Juley (short for Julia), who not in first youth had so far forgotten herself as to many Septimus Small, a man of poor constitution. She had survived him for many years. With her elder and younger sister she lived now in the house of Timothy, her sixth and youngest brother, on the Bayswater Road.