Marriages should be allowed to end after 7 years...?
 

BERLIN (Reuters) - Bavaria's most glamorous politician -- a flame-haired motorcyclist who helped bring down state premier Edmund Stoiber -- has shocked the Catholic state in Germany by suggesting marriage should last just 7 years.

Gabriele Pauli, who poses on her web site in motorcycle leathers, is standing for the leadership of Bavaria's Christian Social Union (CSU) -- sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) -- in a vote next week.

She told reporters at the launch of her campaign manifesto on Wednesday she wanted marriage to expire after seven years and accused the CSU, which promotes traditional family values, of nurturing ideals of marriage which are wide of the mark.

"The basic approach is wrong ... many marriages last just because people believe they are safe," she told reporters. "My suggestion is that marriages expire after seven years."

After that time, couples should either agree to extend their marriage or it should be automatically dissolved, she said.

Fifty-year-old Pauli, twice divorced, is a maverick intent on shaking up her male-dominated and mainly Catholic party which has dominated Bavarian politics since World War Two.

"This is about bringing ideas into the CSU and starting a discussion," she told German television on Thursday after she had unleashed a wave of criticism from other politicians.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070921/...itics_marriage

I like this idea. One can dream right? lol
interesting.

Very interesting given the fact that most marriages don't make it to 10 years anymore. :(

I could agree with this, as I see a clear distinction between marriage the legal institution (which would be what would expire and need to be renewed) and marriage the social/religious institution (which each couple would treat according to their own beliefs).

I agree, but I think 7 years is too long . . one year renewable, three year renewable, max 5 year renewable.

But a one year renewable would force the couple to constantly try and please each other . . .

I'm not sure I see the point of having an expiration date when you can just get divorced. It says that Pauli herself is twice divorced, so must not be that difficult to do so in Berlin. If the argument is that people stay in it because its safe - well, if they're not working to improve it, or making the decision to end it, isn't that kinda their own fault? I don't agree with having the government step in with a timeframe.

Next thing you know they will have to negotiate these things like NBA and NFL contracts.....with incentives....

**shivers**

I agree. Plus, what if you don't WANT to have to renew it. Imagine the legal issues if you miss the deadline by accident.

Exactly. I can't even remember to renew my license plates each year. I don't need anything on top of it to remember. If something like this ever passes, I think I'd just consider it a tax on marriage, because calling it a tax is about the only way I can see it making it through the actual legislation process....

It may not be practical but this is a very intriguing idea to me.

I mean, it gives you a chance to pause at your 7th year and say, "Is this working for me?" "Do I want to continue?" And it kind of gives you an easy out without the whole mess of lawyers and divorce papers and courts.

I love my husband, but I never needed the legal side to make it whole.

And, for the record, I have been married six years last month! :)

Question for the sake of discussion...I assume the paperwork would require BOTH parties to sign to make the renewal official...right???

Generally, in most marriages, there's a person who "takes care of the house" - pays the bills, signs the report cards, makes sure the taxes get done, etc... Isn't that just giving them one more thing to nag their partner about???

And if one partner wants to remain married and the other doesn't.. this wouldn't necessarily be an amicable easy split. Partner number two could use it as leverage to get x, y, and z.

So, if the couple decides, before their 7-year limit is up, that they don't want to be married, do they have to pay a divorce penalty? Or is a divorce even allowed before the expiration date?

AF hit the nail on the head with this one... this would just give the "household crap manager" one more thing to add to her list. (Yep, I said her. We all know the women take care of most of the domestic crap. But I'm not bitter... honest.)

Good points. This is interesting.

Well I was thinking more in terms of quality of life.

I think people try harder around deadlines and they fight harder to keep things going if they perceive a risk.

So if the marriage contract was renewable every year, figure they would be extra nice to each other 2 months prior to the due date and keep at it out 2 months post due date.

Fights relationship entropy.