As the government struggles to control the nation’s debt, a nonpartisan group is advocating that divorce reform could benefit the country’s financial bottom line, the Washington Times reports.

The Coalition for Divorce Reform argues that encouraging couples looking to divorce to instead work things out could majorly cut costs. According to the news source, the average divorce costs a couple $2,500, and each resulting single-parent family can cost the government between $20,000 and $30,000 per year. For these divorce-related social services, the government shells out $33 billion to $112 billion annually.

The organization disagrees with states’ laws that offer no-fault, “easy-to-divorce” programs. Instead, it hopes that states will pass its legislative model to cut divorce rates by one-third in five years

However, the news source states that many family-law scholars, divorce lawyers and domestic-violence advocates oppose delaying and lengthening the divorce process.

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the current divorce rate in the U.S. is 3.4 per 1,000 total population, while the marriage rate is 6.8 per 1,000.

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