Chiles first divorce

last updated 8 January 2015

Santiago, Chile

A Santiago judge has approved Chile’s first legal divorce, The Boston Globe reported this week. Chile became the last country in the Americas to legalize divorce when it updated its marriage code of 1884 last year, over the objections of the Roman Catholic Church. The new law has been described as “revolutionary” for a society where a married woman can’t open a bank account without her husband’s signature, and “illegitimate” children are barred from most prominent Catholic schools. The Justice Ministry had been braced for tens of thousands of divorce petitions, but only 1,035 people have filed since the law took effect, in November.