Crouch Comments on Pre-Marriage Counseling bill

Fri Jan 28 10:39:41 EST 2000

from: Smart Marriages 

John Crouch cc'd me in his response to legislators asking his advice
on the following.  I agree with him.  He may be the expert on
divorce reform legislation, but John is on top of premarital
preparation legislation as well.  -diane sollee
---------------- Begin Forwarded Message ----------------
Date:        1/28/00 12:39 AM
Received:    1/28/00 9:27 AM
From:        John Crouch, crouch at patriot.net

This is the best counseling bill I have seen, and I would recommend 
supporting it as prominently as possible. It is far better than the 
Florida bill in that it does not impose any kind of regulation or 
licensing on the clergy or on other marriage education providers. That is 
good, because they are already subject to private licensing, training and 
accreditation by the marriage education programs whose curricula they 
teach, and/or by their denominations. Also, this bill focuses on the 
kinds of marital education that people need most, and that marriage 
educators are ready to provide, rather than mandating new courses in high 
schools, or booklets written by committees of lawyers. - John Crouch

A few comments, though--

1. If it can be passed as is, great. But if members insist that there be 
more definitions on who can do the counseling, I strongly recommend that 
this be done with the language in my model premarital education bill 
(below). This is because there is not any existing statute that licenses 
or defines premarital educators, and the temptation for legislators in 
most other states has been to use statutes on family therapists or 
marriage counselors -- definitions which are totally inappropriate for 
premarital training or marriage education. What therapists and "marriage 
counselors" do is very different from what this bill is about, although 
it is true that some therapists and counselors have begun offering 
marriage education courses.
The language in my model bill is NOT better than that in HB 57. The 
language is in my model bill because it attempts to provide a substitute 
for the hamhanded licensing language of most covenant marriage or 
counseling bills -- but no language at all is better, assuming the clerks 
will act in good faith, with commen sense and reasonable competence. I 
would only add the language from part (a) of my bill if you thought the 
clerks would unreasonably exclude some qualified counselors.  

2. The $8 incentive is negligible, although maybe its real value is in 
the publicity. The remaining $2 may or may not be worth collecting, 
fiscally. It's probably easier to waive the whole $10.

3. I wouldn't lightly mess with the wording of such a good bill, but if 
you are inclined to, you may be interested in subsections c(i) and (ii) 
of my model Act (below), which have the Clerks mention premarital 
education to everyone who gets married. 
- john crouch

HOUSE BILL 57 

Unofficial Copy  		2000 Regular Session 
By: Delegates Leopold, Clagett, Busch, Greenip, Love, Rosso, Baldwin,
	D'Amato, Sophocleus, Rzepkowski, and Owings
Introduced and read first time: January 12, 2000
Assigned to: Judiciary

 AN ACT concerning Anne Arundel County - Marriage License Fee - 
Premarriage Education

FOR the purpose of reducing the marriage license fee in Anne Arundel 
County for
	couples who have completed a premarriage education course within a 
certain
	time period before applying for a license; providing for disposition of 
the fee;
	requiring the Anne Arundel County Health Department to compile and 
provide
	to the clerk of the circuit court a list of premarriage education 
courses in the
	county and adjacent counties; requiring the clerk to make the list 
available to
	marriage license applicants; defining a certain term; and generally 
relating to
 	marriage license fees in Anne Arundel County.

.. . .
(2)	(I)	IN THIS PARAGRAPH, "PREMARRIAGE EDUCATION COURSE"
 MEANS A COURSE, SEMINAR, WORKSHOP, PROGRAM, OR COUNSELING TO PREPARE A
 COUPLE FOR MARRIAGE AND PARENTING.

 			(II)	IN ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, IF AN APPLICANT FOR A LICENSE
 PRESENTS SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE THAT THE PARTIES TO BE MARRIED HAVE
 COMPLETED A PREMARRIAGE EDUCATION COURSE WITHIN 1 YEAR BEFORE THE
 DATE OF THE APPLICATION, THE FEE FOR A LICENSE IS $2.

 			(III)	THE CLERK SHALL:

 				1.	RETAIN $1 OF THE FEE; AND

  				2.	PAY $1 OF THE FEE INTO THE GENERAL FUND OF THE
  COUNTY.

  			(IV)	1.	THE ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT
  SHALL COMPILE AND PROVIDE TO THE CLERK A LIST OF PREMARRIAGE EDUCATION
  COURSES OFFERED IN THE COUNTY AND ADJACENT COUNTIES.

  				2.	THE CLERK SHALL MAKE THE LIST AVAILABLE TO EACH
  APPLICANT FOR A LICENSE.
------------
Appendix -- text from Crouch's MODEL PREMARITAL EDUCATION ACT, which is 
also a part of "Classic Marriage" model legislation at 
http://www.classicmarriage.com

a. Marriage education or training. Marriage education or training 
required by this Act may be provided by any of the following:

(i) An official representative of a religious institution, or any clergy 
person authorized to perform marriages, or his or her designee.

(ii) Marriage education or skills training providers listed in the 
on-line or printed Directories of the Coalition for Marriage, Family and 
Couples Education (http://www.smartmarriages.com), PAIRS, the 
Relationship Enhancement program, the Couple Communication® programs, The 
Couples Health Program SM, PREPARE, Marriage Savers, Inc., or PREP, Inc.; 
or marriage education providers approved by a Community Marriage Policy 
TM or Community Marriage Covenant.

(iii) Marriage education or skills training providers listed in any other 
on-line or printed directories whose use has been authorized by the Clerk 
of the Supreme Court. 

(iv) Marriage education or skills training providers listed in 
Directories which shall be maintained by the local court clerk's office 
or other office where marriage licenses are obtained. Each such Directory 
shall be a binder in which the clerk may place the names of local 
providers and materials sent by them; copies or world wide web URLs of 
other lists or directories authorized by this Act; printouts of local 
sections of on-line directories; and other materials or lists that the 
clerk deems suitable.

(v) Licensed behavioral health professionals, psychologists, social 
workers, marriage and family therapists, psychiatrists, or professional 
counselors.

b. Proof of completion of marriage education or skills training, or 
marriage counseling, for all purposes for which it may be required under 
this Act (and not only in this section), shall be submitted as follows:

(i) Proof of completion of training should be signed by a provider, on 
the stationery, or other form or certificate, that is used by the 
provider, program or sponsoring institution, but it need not be 
notarized. 

(ii) If the provider is not yet in the court's Directory and does not 
appear obviously unqualified to the Clerk or Deputy Clerk, the Clerk or 
deputy shall add the provider or the program to the Circuit Court's 
directory (regardless of whether the provider or program is already in 
another on-line or printed directory or is clergy). 

c. (i) Whenever anyone contacts a Circuit Court Clerk or Deputy Clerk 
seeking a marriage license or celebrant, or pursuant to Subsection (d) of 
this Section (below), the Clerk or deputy shall ask if the couple have 
gotten or are getting pre-marital training, and from whom. 

(ii) If they have not, or if the answer is vague, the clerk or deputy 
shall inform them that training may be available from the clergy person 
who is to marry them, or from other programs offered by religious 
institutions, and that non-religious marriage educators are available and 
listed in the Directories that are authorized by Subsection (a) of this 
Section (above). 

(iii) The clerk shall do this with all couples, even those who are not 
legally required to obtain training under the provisions of this Act.
___________
John Crouch
Americans for Divorce Reform: http://www.divorcereform.org
1300 N. Utah St.
Arlington, Virginia 22201
divorcereform at usa.net

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