My wife and I got married in Las Vegas 29 years ago and we’re still happily married (at least I am!). But we’ve heard the expression, “What happens in Vegas often ends in Vegas.” My question is, why did Las Vegas become the divorce capital and what is it about Las Vegas that couples there are so susceptible to divorce?
In the early days of statehood, something was needed to counter the inhospitable terrain in order to encourage settlement, so Nevada established itself as a renegade state that would permit certain activities other states wouldn't, such as prostitution, heavyweight-championship boxing matches, and wide-open casino gambling.
But divorce, rather than any of the above, put the Nevada on the map as a scandalous state, with Reno being the original Sin City.
Prior to the twentieth century, divorce statutes in most states were extremely strict (in South Carolina, it wasn't permitted at all), with residency requirements measured in years and even severe physical and sexual abuse not always being considered adequate grounds for dissolving a union. Hence, couples either chose to endure the misery of an unhappy or abusive marriage or were forced to make pilgrimages to one of the few states with more lenient laws, including Arkansas, Wyoming, Idaho, and Nevada, which vied for the lucrative migratory divorce trade by lowering their residency requirements.
Nevada's marriage and divorce laws were established by the first territorial legislature in 1861 and carried over with little change when Nevada became a state in 1864. The residency period necessary to become a citizen was set at six months, while seven grounds for divorce were allowed.
In 1906, a society lawyer in New York, where divorce was permitted only on the grounds of adultery — which had to be proven in open court — hit on remote Nevada as the perfect place for his high-profile clients to dissolve their marriages (get "Reno-vated," as the saying went) away from the public spotlight. Overnight, Reno went full-on into the marriage-dissolution business, with hoteliers, brothels, and private homeowners cashing in by providing temporary lodging to those waiting out the residency requirement. In other words, they had to remain in Nevada for six months and become an official resident in order file for divorce.
In 1927, the state legislature lowered the residency requirement to an unheard-of three months and in 1931, the same year that gambling was legalized in response to the economic impact of the Great Depression, the requirement was lowered again to what elsewhere was considered an outrageous and scandalous six weeks — making it the most lenient divorce state in the U.S. During the 1930s, more than 30,000 divorces were granted at the Washoe County Courthouse alone.
Las Vegas had a few “dude ranches” where divorcees lived for the six-week duration, but it didn’t even start to eclipse Reno in divorce statistics until decades later.
Today, the residency requirement to apply for divorce remains at six weeks; it becomes final after another six. In addition, Nevada is a no-fault divorce state, making the law that much more liberal and non-intrusive.
As for couples in Las Vegas being so susceptible to divorce, we’ll examine that tomorrow.
