The Project....

(Click on underlined items below to link to documents from the Project.)

• was the idea of those with influence over state legislators
• was organized by a group described as a 'shadow super-legislature'
• was overseen by lawyers that saw themselves as a 'governmental' organization
• would need 'approval' from the American Bar Association
• meant the protection of family unity was in the hands of lawyers
• would be promoted in each state
• was based on a belief that 'the time is auspicious for a reform in family law'
• was funded primarily by a grant from the Ford Foundation
• was also funded by the U.S. Dept. of Health, Education & Welfare
• was based on 'junk' studies... or no studies
• selectively used reports from other countries
• was supposed to 'help the poor'
• was supposed to 'help children'
• would be their 'finest hour'
• put in place a new reason for 'standing to sue'
• eliminated all the previous reasons (grounds) for divorce
• still meant divorce was a 'lawsuit'
• was based on a new legal term... with no definition
• let future case law determine what the new legal term actually meant
• established 'divorce at will of either party'
• changed the terms-of-reference to make it sound friendlier
• said that no reason was needed to file a lawsuit
• eliminated the 'cause of action' in a lawsuit
• offered guaranteed success to the 'accusing' party
• offered guaranteed failure to the 'accused' party
• showed a disdain for the role of the judge
• turned the judge's role into a rubber-stamp process*
• intended to strip the judge of any 'discretion' (see discussion)
• used 'camouflage' to make the operation appear judicial
• looked so much like Russia's Post Card Divorce system that they laughed about it
• was 'sold' using deception (claiming it was a 'mutual' process)
• ignored 'warnings' from high-level officials
• resulted in a fierce battle between two competing legal groups
• was reviled by the American Bar Association's Section on Family Law
• was approved by the American Bar Association

*the judge would perform a 'ministerial' act, not a judicial act