Comment by DominikR | Hacker News Reader

Comment by DominikR | Hacker News Reader

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I don't know what the laws are in the US regarding divorce but there's an astonishing imbalance in favour of women in many EU countries that causes marriages to be an unacceptable risk for me and many other men.

You can get divorced for no cause (no infidelity, financials are fine and you didn't do anything else wrong) and you'll be forced to hand over 40% of your net income to your ex-wife for the rest of your life. (even if there are no children - if there are, you get to pay even more)

I'm fine with women leaving for no cause (it's her business) and also with financially supporting children (as probably most men are) but I'm not going to sign a contract that could potentially leave me financially broke for no cause.

So even though the Harvard study might give some insight to married men on what they could do better I doubt that marriage under the current framework will even exist in a few decades.

> I'm fine with women leaving for no cause (it's her business) and also with financially supporting children (as probably most men are)

My mother's parents divorced acrimoniously.

She told me that her mother was constantly fighting to receive child support checks. They were always late, any disputes that could be raised were raised, etc.

When she went off to college, the checks were assigned to her rather than her mother. And, like magic, they arrived on time and in full, with never a word of complaint.

I think a majority of men are indeed quite willing to support their children financially, even children they don't see much. But money extracted from you by a court and handed over to your ex-wife to be spent however she sees fit is something a little different.

It varies widely from state to state. Texas doesn't have alimony except under some narrow conditions, but Massachusetts is so liberal with it that it actively discourages women from remarrying.

> I'm fine with women leaving for no cause (it's her business) and also with financially supporting children (as probably most men are)

I'm not OK with that. I would wnt to keep shared custody of children (or full custody if she doesn't want it), and share the financial burden equally. But that option is often forcibly denied to men...

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