Anatomy of a Breakup

When California became the first state in the nation to legally adopt "no-fault" divorce in 1969, it accomplished by legislative fiat what no unhappy couple ever had -- making divorce completely blameless.

Few of life's contractual arrangements seem better suited to the assignment of fault than divorce -- the dissolution of a legal contract to which both parties pledged to remain faithful unto death. About that: As the divorce rate in the United States soared past 50 percent in the 1970s, it created the largest generation of children in human history who watched their parents' marriages hiss, smoke and finally detonate.

"Nobody really wants to get divorced," says San Jose divorce coach Lana Foladare, whose service -- Divorce Without Drama -- seeks to reduce the pettiness, rage and treachery inherent in the process to merely operatic levels. "There's still some stigma. Every person who goes through it has to reconcile themselves to feeling like, 'I'm a failure because my marriage ended.' "

And yet divorce is not all bad. Many are preferable to the dysfunctional marriages they replace. A divorce decree can mark the beginning of a season of renewal, a chance to start fresh -- eyes wide open to every possibility and pitfall. According to the Web site DivorceWizards.com, 80 percent of men and 75 percent of women remarry within three years.

But no-fault divorce? Tell that to Leslee and David Lageschulte who had a 13-year marriage, and painful yearlong divorce.