covenant marriage
a legal innovation in American marriage, first enacted in Louisiana in 1997 but not available in all states, in which heterosexual couples agree to participate in premarital counseling and to accept significantly more restricted grounds for divorce. Covenant marriage laws were designed to reduce the likelihood of divorce by strengthening marriages while making divorces more difficult to obtain. More symbolically, covenant marriage laws allow spouses to signal to each other and to their families and social networks that they view their marital vows as especially meaningful and permanent. Covenant marriage laws are usually written without regard to religion, but in practice, couples who choose a covenant marriage tend to be religious. Thus, although covenant marriage is associated with a lower risk of divorce, this may be attributable to the spouses’ religious beliefs and practices rather than to the covenant marriage per se.