Because the 鈥渇or poorer鈥� part of marriage vows often comes with a nasty split, couples have a new type of contract to consider: divorce insurance.

A scholar at one of Canada鈥檚 leading law schools predicts the controversial insurance, recently unveiled in the U.S., will come to be 鈥渙ffered widely鈥� in this country, where nearly two in five marriages 鈥� 38 per cent 鈥� are dissolved before the 30th wedding anniversary.

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James Morton, adjunct professor at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, predicts we鈥檒l come to see such insurance offered broadly across Canada. He notes that a lump-sum payout upon divorce may make more sense to some people than a pre-nup 鈥� or domestic contract, as it鈥檚 called here 鈥� because judges have 鈥渂road discretion to ignore鈥� the latter.

He鈥檚 unsure, however, of how well the product will take off.

鈥淚t鈥檚 important to make sure the insurance is worth it,鈥� says Morton. 鈥淚f the matter is not contentious and the spouses are pretty well agreed, (divorce) costs should be fairly low 鈥� say, in the $5,000 range, all included. But if the matter is contested, costs can be enormous. I鈥檝e seen cases with legal costs exceeding a million dollars.鈥�

Divorce expert Anne-Marie Ambert likewise expects the insurance to breach our borders, partly because of the public perception that marriage is more fragile than ever. But a report she authored last year shows there are only 221 divorces per 100,000 population now, representing a sharp decline from 362 in the late 1980s.

鈥淚f you get this (insurance), you鈥檙e really stating, 鈥榃e鈥檙e not going to make it,鈥欌�� says Ambert, a retired professor of sociology from 91亚色. 鈥淎nd let鈥檚 keep in mind that the insurance companies aren鈥檛 doing us a charity ... This really isn鈥檛 going to help those who need it most, which are poor people, or even plain middle-class people who can鈥檛 afford it either.鈥�

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