As a young Indian bachelor, should I avoid marriage due to all the anti-male marital laws prevalent in India?

To have any kind of reasonable understanding of the aims and effects of any law, it would be necessary to examine the provisions that are being impugned (challenged).   The anti-dowry law, I believe is causing a great deal of concern. Let us look at Section 304B of the Indian Penal Code. 304B. Dowry death.—(1) Where the death of a woman is caused by any burns or bodily injury or occurs otherwise than under normal circumstances within seven years of her marriage and it is shown that soon before her death she was subjected to cruelty or har­assment by her husband or any relative of her husband for, or in connection with, any demand for dowry, such death shall be called “dowry death”, and such husband or relative shall be deemed to have caused her death. The Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 makes it an offence to demand and receive dowry punishable with fine and imprisonment for not less than five years.   Domestic violence laws are another concern.   The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 defines what domestic violence it and makes it punishable. Domestic violence is defined in Section 3 as: any act, omission or commission or conduct of the respondent shall constitute domestic violence in case it –   (a)   harms or injures or endangers the health, safety, life, limb or well-being, whether mental or physical, of the aggrieved person or tends to do so and includes causing physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal and emotional abuse and economic abuse; or   (b)  harasses, harms, injures or endangers the aggrieved person with a view to coerce her or any other person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any dowry or other property or valuable security; or   (c)               has the effect of threatening the aggrieved person or any person related to her by any conduct mentioned in clause (a) or clause (b);   (d)              otherwise injures or causes harm, whether physical or mental, to the aggrieved person.     Explanation I For the purposes of this section,- (i) "physical abuse" means any act or conduct which is of such a nature as to cause  bodily pain, harm, or danger to life, limb, or health or impair the health or development of the  aggrieved person and includes assault, criminal intimidation and criminal force; (ii) "sexual abuse" includes any conduct of a sexual nature that abuses, humiliates, degrades or otherwise violates the dignity of woman; (iii) "verbal and emotional abuse" includes- (a) insults, ridicule, humiliation, name calling and insults or ridicule specially with regard to not having a child or a male child; and (b) repeated threats to cause physical pain to any  person in whom the  aggrieved person is interested. (iv) "economic abuse" includes- (a) deprivation of all or any economic or financial resources to which the aggrieved person is entitled under any law or custom whether payable under an order of a court or otherwise or which the aggrieved person requires out of  necessity including, but not limited to, household necessities for the aggrieved person and her children, if any, stridhan, property , jointly or separately owned  by the aggrieved person, payment of rental related to the shared household and maintenance;   (b) disposal of household effects, any alienation of assets whether movable or immovable, valuables, shares, securities, bonds and the like or other property  in which the aggrieved person has an interest or is entitled to use by virtue of  the domestic relationship or which may be reasonabl y required by the  aggrieved person or her children or her stridhan or any other property jointly or separately held by the aggrieved person; and    (c) prohibition or restriction to continued access  to resources or facilities  which the aggrieved person is entitled to use or en joy by virtue of the domestic relationship including access to the shared household     Explanation II. -For the purpose of determining whether any act, omission, commission or conduct of the respondent constitutes "domestic violence" under this section, the overall facts and circumstances of the case shall be taken into consideration. The Domestic Violence Act provides for shelters for victims of domestic violence, providing medical and legal aid to victims as well as counselling.   I am not aware of any provisions of divorce law that are not equally applicable except that of abandonment i.e. if a woman is abandoned by her husband for a period of 7 years or more, than she can file for divorce. We could make that mutual too, if that is a concern.   If not these laws, how are these issues tackled? Please analyze the other laws of this country that are designed or capable of addressing these issues. We can discuss their efficaciousness after your response.   How would you like to amend these laws to make them fairer? One suggestion that I think can be taken into account is making the definition of the term ‘aggrieved person’ under the Domestic Violence Act gender neutral and make the remedies therein even available to men. I think that is a fair ask.   The laws are in place because of the mischief that exists. I don’t think you are seriously contending that misandry exists in the country to such an extent as to endanger the life or health of a majority of men in the country. On the other hand, the misogyny in the country affects me, affects all the women I know and all the women you know.   Are the laws for protecting women being misused? Sure there are cases. But ALL LAWS ARE CAPABLE OF BEING MISUSED. Shall we do away with all laws? For instance, there are several laws geared towards protection of the environment and judgments on such issues. Do you know how many motivated claims there are against corporations to stop them from developing infrastructure? I know of directors and officers of companies put into jail. Should we do away with the environmental laws because of some corporation suffering at the mercy of motivated PILs? Of course not. The protection of the environment is a serious concern.   There are false cases of cheating, murder, rape etc. where the innocent are framed. What is the remedy? Adduce proof and fight it out. The law does allow you to prove otherwise and our entire judicial system is geared towards letting the accused present his case. Also, the law does allow you to prosecute a person for having levelled false charges at you.   Do you think that women are too powerful and influence the legal and political machinery completely? Most judges, lawyers, politicians in this country at every single level are men. In fact, in every profession in this country, men hold positions of power. We still have actions for restitution of conjugal rights that are allowed. This kind of action forces a woman who has left her husband to cohabit the man she has left. Where does the power lie in a country where we have a law forcing a woman to live with a man she does not want to live with?   Should you get married as a bachelor? Apart from the legal issue of only bachelors being able to marry (assuming you are non Muslim), since married men are not permitted to marry by law, don’t marry if you are so worried about being the victim of a dishonest woman and her family, in India or otherwise. No one can provide you with any guarantees, whatever the laws of a country are. You could be murdered for your property or cheated out of your fortune by a woman. You could be thrown into jail on false charges of murder, assault, cheating or causing hurt. This could also be done by a man.   Good luck.This answer is not a substitute for professional legal advice....

As a young Indian woman, should I never walk out of my door after dark/get on a bus/wear a burqa due to all the rapes prevalent in India? Your question is based on faulty reasoning. You are not being relegated to "a second-class citizen" after marriage - yes there are ridiculously draconian and grossly sexist laws that favor women but the proportion of women who misuse such laws is miniscule compared to the number of men who get away with such crimes everyday. I expect that you'll carefully vet through a catalog of bridal candidates, weeding out potentially manipulative/mentally unstable ones before bestowing your hand and heart on the lady of your choice. As any person of reasonable sense would. Its not that hard to get a good grasp of a person's character after a few months of knowing them - and really, is it too much to expect that you'll have a pretty good idea of how a woman's mind ticks before you marry her? People don't just develop a raging case of crazy, the signs are usually there for you to read. Yes, the onus of vetting is on you, yes, a bad apple might slip through your screening process but hey, it could be worse. Instead of being a young Indian bachelor, you could have been a young Indian woman. And you know what? We're not just second class citizens after marriage. We're second class citizens our whole life.

To avoid getting married, you really should have personal reasons standing strong over all the legal hurdles that are no doubt still important, I think. With or without laws, many men do become second class citizens, merely providing for the family, dropping all the things they wanted to do with their lives, and ignoring all that was wonderful about being alive and able to do whatever they wanted to do in this world. This is a bigger crime upon some of us, because getting married and raising a family was not part of our top life plans!  But if we still took the step, we definitely asked for the trouble. It's the expectation from society, from families, from our spouses etc., that marriage should be a certain way, that kills it for some of us in India.  The structure is heavily designed to provide security and stability, and a good platform for the next generation, the kids, that will come along.  It is not designed for happiness as the primary goal. Many men and women DO find happiness in married life, and that cannot be argued against.  But for more than half, it is some sort of a compromise, a long-term letdown, that they may or may not accept, but will confess to if given the right opportunity. Don't worry about the laws that will entrap you in obligations you're not ready to get into.  Ask yourself if you want to have any sort of encumbrance at all.  If you have the slightest hesitation, don't get into it. For what it's worth, here's a little blog entry I wrote a while ago: http://bsk777.blogspot.in/2008/12/are-you-fit-for-marriage.html If you fail to "deliver" on the expectations, no matter what the law says, you won't be allowed to be happy.  But the law helps ensure your unhappiness. It's not as if you cannot go to some other country and get married to someone from another culture, where you might get a better deal.

's answer convers most of the points. I am only adding to her answer -   Marital Laws are not anti -male. Please read the laws before you buy into all the Panic inducing rhetorical which is mostly based on ignorance.   I am taking this opportunity to speak about some myths that people have about  legal issues related to marriage and divorce.    1. In most of the cities now (where the chances of women misusing the law are more) there are Men's cell run by the Police and several NGOs. If you ever find yourself in a situation where you are being harassed by your wife, contact a good lawyer / these cells.   2. Also, there is a misconception that women can take away 50% of your salary as maintenance. The court only grants 20% and that too if she has no source of income. Is this fair? Think about it. If your wife sacrificed her career to take care of the house and children, who is going to give her a job when she is 30 and has no experience? That is why it is the man's responsibility.   Remember that even men can ask maintenance from women if they have no source of income. So, this provision is gender neutral.   The maintenance amount may increase if there are children. Most of the times the courts make the man directly pay the school fees or tuition etc. So, one shouldn't be complaining about paying for one's children.   3. Another myth is about custody battles. Although the court awards custody of a child to a mother normally, if the child is old enough, he/she may even be asked by the judge as to with whom the child wants to live.   Remember, even if the custody is given to the woman, no court ever denies access rights to the father or his family.   4. Divorce laws (Hindu law) is completely gender neutral. The grounds for divorce for men and women are the same. For Christian and Muslim law the grounds for divorce are different and favour men.   5. Domestic Violence is the only law here where women have an advantage as it is for them. Understand that this law came into existence only in 2005 after much demand. This is not a complete criminal proceeding and there is no fear of going to jail.   Now coming to your question -   Should I avoid marriage due to all the anti-male marital laws prevalent in India?   No. That would be dumb. Don't get me wrong, marry or don't marry, its ok by me. But your premise for not marrying as I pointed out wouldn't be right.   Having said that, here are a few things you can do if you decide to marry.   a) Do not demand dowry. Contribute to the marriage (monetarily), you are also getting married.   b) Allow or encourage your wife to work after marriage. Support her in that by sharing chores at home. This way you can have more money plus avoid all the fear you have about having to pay her in case of divorce.   c) If one of you is not a Hindu, marry under the Special Marriage Act. This law is also very gender neutral.   d) Lastly, make an informed choice. If it truly bothers you see a lawyer and read the laws. Only if you are completely convinced after research that marriage is still a bad deal, don't marry.   EDIT : With reference to adultery law.   Adultery defined under the IPC is the dumbest provision ever and is in dire need of amendment. It is biased against men as only a man can be prosecuted under this law. But if you understand the spirit of that provision and read its history in English law you will realise that it is actually pathetic for women too.   Let me explain how. Under this provision, only a married man can prosecute another man who has an affair with his wife. That is because the women was considered his property and the other man trespassed it.   Remember that a married woman cannot prosecute the adulteress (the woman with whom her husband has sex). Because technically  he is not her property.   So, practically what happens is if a woman's husband has an affair, that woman has no remedy. Whereas, if a man's wife has an affair the man can prosecute the man.   Remember under this provision the no woman can prosecute a man. But only a married man can prosecute another man. Technically even if only a man is punished, the right to prosecute is also given to a man alone.    

1) The Dowry Prohibition Act - This is gender neutral. If your future wife or her family asks you for dowry, you can file charges against them. 2) Domestic Violence Act - This is civil law, not criminal. So you won't go to jail or anything. If you abuse your wife and try to throw her out, she can ask to stay in your house if she has no other alternative. Or she can get a court order asking you to desist from abusing her. Fair enough? 3) Divorce laws - Either party can seek divorce. If you're concerned about maintenance, and if you're Hindu, you can get married under the Hindu Marriage Act. Maintenance is also gender neutral! 4) Child custody laws - Did you know that the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act makes the father the "natural guardian" of the child? The mother is the guardian only after the father. The mother gets guardianship only when the child is "illegitimate". Still feel like a second class citizen? If you feel you have no legal rights I suggest you look up the Fundamental Rights under the Constitution of India.This answer is not a substitute for professional legal advice....

Ok. I am the one who wrote this Most of the lawyers/law students answering the current question are stuffing their bookish knowledge on you. If you go by the book, yes, what they say may be true. However, as I understand from their answers, either they are COMPLETELY unaware of what happens in real time OR they are trying to act as the lawyers normally do when one talks about 498a misuse (Read my answer linked above where I talk in detail regarding lawyers' hypocrisy) , if you feel people are trying to scare-monger here, try doing this little exercise. ( I am giving you a benefit of doubt and assume that you fall under the category - "completely unaware of what happens in real time") In which ever part of country you're located,  pick some 2-3 male volunteers. As an exercise, ask them to approach the best divorce lawyers in your area. Everyone should pose a same problem. "I am fed-up of my wife for she is having extra marital affairs with a couple of guys. I have seen them in the act LIVE. I would want to get a divorce. What should I do and how should I approach forward?" Collate the answers from these divorce lawyers and I am 100% sure here is what you will get in almost this order. Try to get the divorce on mutual consent. If you press me hard, I will file a divorce from your side but the chances are next to nil that you will get a divorce unless your wife is willing. Be prepared for at least 3 cases on you. IPC 498a, Domestic Violence, Maintenance. (Our govt has granted a bouquet of 3 cases for women.) If your wife is having a salary lower than you or is not working then be prepared to shell out a good amount as an interim maintenance (till the time maintenance case is solved courts grant interim maintenance to ladies). 498a is a criminal non-bailable section and if it is filed on you there is 99.9% chance you will be incarcerated for 1-14 days in jail. Your family members may or may-not go to jail but for sure they will be harassed like hell by the Police. Try to get the divorce on mutual consent. Now do the same exercise with 2-3 female volunteers with question slightly changed "I am fed-up of my husband for he is having extra marital affairs with a couple of girls. I have seen them in the act LIVE. I would want to get a divorce. What should I do and how should I approach forward?" Collate the answers from these divorce lawyers and I am 100% sure here is what you will get in no order. No problem, just let me know the amount you will want to get as a one time settlement. I can get it increased if instead of giving a fixed sum as fee, you give me a percentage of whatever amount you get as compensation. Do you also want to send him to jail? How about his family members? I am point wise answering and then <Start of Answers to Tejasvita and Aakanksha> 1. In most of the cities now (where the chances of women misusing the law are more) there are Men's cell run by the Police >> I am assuming "most of the cities" would include the national capital. Would you mind providing some contact detail of Men's cell run by Police in Delhi? (I am not asking about NGOs, SIF etc.) 2. Remember that even men can ask maintenance from women if they have no source of income. So, this provision is gender neutral. >> In how many cases have you seen men getting maintenance from women? Provide me just 5 cases and I would be happy. I am ready to provide you 500 references though for the reverse scenario. 3. Another myth is about custody battles. Although the court awards custody of a child to a mother normally, if the child is old enough, he/she may even be asked by the judge as to with whom the child wants to live. >>Nothing more to add. You have yourself contradicted your bold statement with the next statement. 4. Divorce laws (Hindu law) is completely gender neutral. The grounds for divorce for men and women are the same. For Christian and Muslim law the grounds for divorce are different and favour men. >>Get in real time mode Ma'm. The books may say it is neutral BUT if divorce is filed by a woman, it is almost always accompanied with the brahmastra IPC 498a. The pressure of this criminal section is too much for most men to sustain and they usually give up and agree for divorce coupled with some huge sum of money as a one time settlement to the woman's family. 5. Domestic Violence is the only law here where women have an advantage as it is for them. Understand that this law came into existence only in 2005 after much demand. This is not a complete criminal proceeding and there is no fear of going to jail. >>Not much to add just that DV is one of the extortion tools for 498a gang members. Now to answer I am not aware of any provisions of divorce law that are not equally applicable except that of abandonment i.e. if a woman is abandoned by her husband for a period of 7 years or more, than she can file for divorce. We could make that mutual too, if that is a concern. >>Please check 4th point above. ALL LAWS ARE CAPABLE OF BEING MISUSED >>I always expect this line of argument to come up when talking to women activists regarding 498a. I have answered this earlier here For the sake of continuity, here it is again - 1) When someone is falsely accused of murder, you at-least have a dead body right? In false rape there is at-least some evidence in the form of girl being raped and medical proof right? When being falsely accused of cheating, you have the property(cash/real estate/jewellery etc) under contention right? but what about false 498a ? 498a cases are filed just on the basis of verbal evidence of a women that she is supposedly being mentally harassed and is supposedly being asked for dowry. She does not need ANY proof to file a case.  In my cousin's case I linked above, the lady had at least 2 affairs, but when she was caught, she filed a false 498a suit on the whole family. She had NO proofs at all. The lady's father had this to say to one of our family friends. I know we will not win this case but at least I will harass them for 2-3 years and they will come with their heads down and give us hefty settlement amount. Case is continuing on her verbal statements. 2) It is perhaps the only law in India, where you take people from the mainstream of society - doctors, engineers, CAs, IAS officers and put them to trial without hearing their side. Something as simple as a court notice is dreaded upon by such respected class of people. The unscrupulous lawyers and police would then take advantage of this generated fear and fleece money like anything. 3) There are cases where people have lost their jobs, their onsite assignments. In some cases it becomes difficult to for the nubile sisters/brothers to get married. Do you think that women are too powerful and influence the legal and political machinery completely? Most judges, lawyers, politicians in this country at every single level are men. >>Do you know who gains the maximum from such cases. It's not the ladies family rather Police and lawyers. Check the stats for the no of marital cases running in the country, you will get an idea. Get 498a scrapped from IPC and many lawyers would start seeking alternate professions. I hope you know that most of the top politicians in major parties in this country are lawyers. They will always be interested to come up with severely biased laws to help their fraternity. Check sections 191 to 211 of the IPC for criminal proceedings. Also a civil case for tort of malicious prosecution can be set up. >>These sections are too weak for anyone to get anything meaningful remedy out of them. None of these section impose a cognizable offence. Moreover the option to avail them arrives at the very end of the case and by then most of the people have lost most of their energies and earnings to courts. Civil case is well, "civil". You don't really want to seek a civil revenge when you and your family is wronged criminally. I have not heard of any decent family lawyer actually recommending prenups. >>You have not heard because there is no such concept in India. </End of Answers to Tejasvita and Aakanksha> Really ladies, there is nothing against you. All I am again-and-again requesting you and other lawyers/law students is to go past your books, get on the ground, meet senior lawyers of local courts who have seen these cases, meet the harassed husbands and their families and you will then realize the gravity of the 498a mess. I recollect an interesting story told to us by a HC lawyer. Senior lawyers and judges normally have a good relation amongst them. One of the close relations of this lawyer got implicated in a false 498a. This lawyer requested the judge to get his family member out on bail without sending his relative to Judicial Custody. The judge sahab having the notion of bechaari abla naari and women-is-always-a-victim-mentality didn't pay heed to the lawyer's words and sent the guy to JC. Some years later the same judge's family got implicated in a false 498a case, where some of his family members had to face the jail too. That was the day he realized how some women are misusing these marital laws. Since then that particular judge gives instant bail in 498a cases. :) I, like many others are moved when cases like that Nirbhaya comes up every now-and-then. There are many reforms that needs to be done. It's just that I have started to feel frustrated for some women out there have taken the meaning of feminism to different levels. has beautifully summed up my feelings here They don't want equal treatment rather they want preferential treatment everywhere. Some feminists out there have started to get problems with everything and anything under the sun related to men vs women debate. Probably the day is not far away when they will be on a dharna against God on why only women have to bear the labor pain! Having said all above, answering your question, my answer would be NO, you should not base your decision on such laws ( or the misuse of them). In my cousin's case, we're all of the opinion, that he got sheer unlucky. There are other hundreds of thousands of couples living happily together. However, given the state of laws what probably you should do is to do some due diligence before you marry a girl in India. Here are some pointers from http://498a.co.in/ on points before choosing an Indian bride Edit: Some commentors conveniently chose to ignore the main points and started commenting on a piece of text I quoted from the link above. I don't want to give chance to others to diverge from the main issue, so for the sake of continuity I have removed the quoted text. You can visit the link above to find out more. They may be controversial but they are some generic guidelines shared by a victimized group of husbands. In addition to above points, check the temperament of the girl's mother. Girls are regarded as the mirrors of their mother in habits, emotions etc. In most of the 498a cases, victim husbands say that the primary cause for their fake 498a turned out to be the girl's mother. I request you to all to upvote/share this answer to spread awareness about the draconian law 498a

Yes, you should avoid marriage in India, especially the "arranged" type. Why? Read on. [note that these laws are being made applicable to live-in relationships as well. So that is also not an option] I'm pissed off by people justifying these laws by posting links to cases of women harassment/ death. Their general tone is that our society is anti-female and we need to "correct the imbalance" through such laws. I don't deserve such laws - and laws are meant for everyone. Is it acceptable to ill treat even a small fraction of the citizens in search of the "greater good" ? Plus, I can also post hundreds of links to news articles which show men being harassed/ abused/ beaten/ driven to suicide by their wives. Here's one: http://www.mid-day.com/news/2009/apr/160409-Syed-Makhdoom-Indo-Canadians-Child-custody-battles-four-marriages-Bangalore-news.htm Thanks for: It's not as if you cannot go to some other country and get married to someone from another culture, where you might get a better deal. That is exactly what I'm planning to do - get a "better deal" in some developed country ! Thanks for this suggestion: making the definition of the term ‘aggrieved person’ under the Domestic Violence Act gender neutral That's all what I wish - gender neutral marital laws. I'm pissed off with this whole 'abala nari' thing where only the woman can be the victim and only man can be the perpetrator. 1 more problem that needs to be corrected is this: In some laws, the man is assumed guilty unless proven innocent. I guess nowhere in the world is this the case. It violates the basic tenet of justice. Also, provisions of the laws are ambiguous and open to interpretation, which can really catch up on to the man. You also said "ALL LAWS ARE CAPABLE OF BEING MISUSED" . Shall we do away with all laws? ALL LAWS ARE CAPABLE OF BEING MISUSED -Thats unavoidable, and OK if the laws can be equally misused by women and men. Some of the laws which I mentioned can only be misused by women - Is that fair? Plus, there are no strict provisions against misuse of such laws. If  not these laws, how are these issues tackled? Please analyze the other  laws of this country that are designed or capable of addressing these  issues. We can discuss their efficaciousness after your response. I'm not asking for abolition of these laws. They should be made gender neutral - thats it. But women's organizations will oppose tooth and nail to this step. said: "Divorce laws (Hindu law) is completely gender neutral. The grounds for divorce for men and women are the same" Here are my points: a new bill talks about only the division of husband's properties, but not wife’s properties. So in case woman is at fault, still she will get 50% share in husband's property, but her share of property will not be divided. a wife can oppose a husband’s plea for divorce under the new ground (irretrievable breakdown) stating that the divorce would cause grave financial hardship. The husband however, cannot oppose a wife’s plea for divorce under this ground. The amendment will give a woman right to 50% of the residential property owned by her husband even if it is acquired before the marriage. Even inherited property of husband is being included in this. Edit: Above provisions are included in Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2010. It is only a matter of time before the bill is passed. " Please read the laws before you buy into all the Panic inducing rhetorical which is mostly based on ignorance. " I personally know some friends/ relatives who have been harassed and pushed to misery by their wives. That's why I'm being extra careful about marriage. "If your wife sacrificed her career to take care of the house and children, who is going to give her a job when she is 30 and has no experience? That is why it is the man's responsibility" If a woman decides to stay at home, it is out of her choice - the so called sacrifices of housewife could be a hogwash. Maybe she wants the comfort of home and nothing else. I would never encourage my wife to stay at home - I would like to take equal responsibility for taking care of the house and the child. Remember, even if the custody is given to the woman, no court ever denies access rights to the father or his family. Father merely becomes a  visitor to the child - or in other words, a television serial to his own child. ---- CONCLUSION: Women say "we want equal rights, freedom, powers and equal everything" but we wish to be treated as the victims no matter what." Hypocrisy. Question that (things like these biased laws), and you will be branded a male chauvinist in no time. We need to carefully rethink some of these funny laws. ---- Some links from Quora itself: [read question description for more links]

The answer by Aakangsha stated that all laws have the propensity for misuse. I agree.But she forgot to mention that in most of those cases, proof is required to book a person and for trial. In 498A, however, no evidence is required to take you to court and ruin your life. A simple statement is enough. I cannot think of another law in the world that follows this principle.My sincere advice would be for you to go your own way. Search for MGTOWIndian on youtube. You might get something. He talks sense but you do not need to take everything word for word. He has some extreme views but he speaks logic. Always keep your mind open to new information. Listen to both sides of the conversation and make your own informed decision. Advice from others can only help you so much.

Simple solution- Focus on yourself and not the laws. 1)Dowry- Don't burn your wife. 2)Domestic Violence -Don't beat your wife 3)Divorce - Pick the right partner, hopefully someone you want to be with and not someone you are  paid to be with (see 1) and constantly work on your relationship 4)Child Custody - Do no. 2 and 3 and don't beat your children and this should'nt be a problem 5) Adultry : Don't cheat on your wife, which is a lot easier to avoid if you follow 1,2,3 and 4 and have love, trust and stability in your home. If you have doubts about being able to do any of these things then avoid marriage because you can end up in jail. (you have to admit the bar is pretty low here). On a more serious note, you do have to watch out for the odd woman who is going to  manipulate you and the law to their advantage.(Sometimes  for money, sometimes out of spite and sometimes because she's just mental which is most likely because you did'nt follow No. 1,2,3,4 or 5 and now she's out for revenge)