What If Marriages Had an Automatic Expiration Date?

One day, I started thinking about all the celebrities who jump headfirst into marriages with people they've known for just a short while. They show up on magazine covers looking gleeful-as if they just found out they've won a lifetime supply of chocolate crème pie. They do interviews, waxing poetic about the soul mates they've found-ecstatic that they've landed the One who makes their life complete...that is, until the divorce papers are filed. What's the real clinker? That the papers were filed only 8 months into the marriage.

So, as I said-I got to thinking about what it might be like if marriage came with a flexible expiration date. The "expiration clause" would be optional. Couples could set the date to dissolve the union in 5 years. But other time limit choices would be available. Say-10, 15, 20 years and so forth. Perhaps there might even exist a quickie 1 year selection.

This idea sounds pretty harsh. But considering the plethora of divorces in society, setting an automatic divorce date might be a likely political campaign. I wonder what impact this marital option would have on the way people view love, commitment, marriage and family...

Would there be benefits to these different marriages?

Single people are constantly bemoaning the amount of taxes taken out of their "single person" paycheck." Indeed being married with kids does have one or two financial benefits. But would these tax breaks be lowered if said marriage had an expiration date?

Would friends and family provide gifts to the bride and groom if they know that the marriage expires in one year?

Imagine sitting in the pews of the beautiful cathedral where your loved ones are trading syrupy wedding vows. Knowing that the couple has opted for a 5 year divorce option ("just in case things don't work out") might just impact your decision to pick the pricier items on the registry.

Would school children have yet another thing to tease each other about?

"Myyyy parents have a 25-year expiration date! 5 years is for losers!"(Tsk...Tsk...Tsk...)

Would couples get a letter in the mail, sort of like when their insurance expires?

How would people feel receiving in their mailboxes, official documents alerting them to their impending divorce dates? At this point, would married couples be given the option to "renew" their vows? Hmmm.

Would infidelity still be as rampant?

I doubt very seriously that a simple marital clause would encourage people to be faithful to their mates. Mistresses would no longer have to wonder when their lovers would finally be free of their wives. On the other hand, would spouses feel more dedicated to one another because the pressure to stay married has been removed? Yeah, it sounds far-fetched to me too...

Would more people get married if they knew that there was an automatic end date?

On the flip side, would this "automatic divorce option" actually encourage more people to take the plunge? What if people actually stayed together longer simply because they know that they're not being forced to remain married? This kind of reverse psychology isn't too difficult to comprehend.

We all know that marital expiration dates pretty much would defeat the purpose altogether. But sometimes the strangest ideas one could possibly think of--sometimes come to fruition in the real world. After all, prenuptial agreements have been around for hundreds of years...