A Timeline of Divorce in America
January 5, 2026
Divorce was once uncommon and highly stigmatized in the United States. Until the introduction of no-fault divorce in the 1960s and ’70s, states typically required one partner to prove the other’s misconduct by the other in a costly, complex process that often favored men.
Attitudes—and laws—changed as the institution of marriage and gender roles have evolved. A July 2025 assessment by the Institute for Family Studies calculated that roughly 40 percent of first marriages end in divorce.
