Demise of the Quickie Divorce

Few things in Mexico ran as smoothly as the Ciudad Juarez quickie divorce mill. The Juarez court severed 43,000 American marriages a year. Allowed to stand in much of the U.S., the divorces required the fleeting appearance of only one spouse, while the other merely agreed in writing. Juarez was so renowned that it attracted charter flights made up entirely of divorce seekers who flew in wed and flew out unwed all in less than a day.

Last week the mill ground to a halt, probably for good. The old easygoing law was quietly repealed, largely because of pressure from Mexico's federal government, which for years has been embarrassed at the image Juarez gave the country. Because it was Mexico, no one was entirely sure of what the new divorce rules were, but Eugenio Calzada, a highly respected Juarez lawyer, said flatly: "Divorces for Americans are finished." From now on, Americans will apparently have no place to which they can travel alone, shed a mate in one day and be reasonably sure that the divorce will stand up. The shortest residency requirement now available to a singleminded spouse is the six-week period authorized in Idaho and Nevada.

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