Another California plague is invading the world: our absurd divorce laws. You probably know comedian John Cleese from Monty Python’s Flying Circus and numerous movies. Here’s a report on his plight:

Ms [Alyce Faye] Eichelberger received more than £12 million from the divorce in 2009, which was settled under Californian law. The couple were married for 16 years but have no children together.

Cleese spoke of his disappointment at the settlement, and his fear that Californian-style marital law is increasingly reflected in high-profile divorces in Britain.

He said: “This is how absurd it is: I have paid her $16 million, I am left with about $8.5 million, out of which I have to pay her another $5 million.

“So she’ll get something like $21 million, and I am left with $3.5 million, and we never had children.

“People say “why didn’t you have a pre-nup?” The answer is I did have a prenup but it had no legal force in the UK and to my astonishment, I found that it didn’t have legal force in the United States either.

“It…only had ‘advisory’ influence. What worries me is that the insanity of Californian marital law is beginning to creep into the UK. That’s alarming.”

This is why government should have nothing to with marriage and family law. It should be between the couple, and their family and religion (or ethical group, if they’re not religious). Doing so would also end the controversy over same-sex “marriage.”

Government-certified marriages fail at a 50 percent rate. Would anybody fly an airline whose planes crashed 50 percent of the time? Of course not. It’s time to get government out of marriage and family life.

But marriage, divorce and “family law” are immense cash cows both for the government and the lawyers, child-protective services functionaries, psychologists and others involved.

One positive development is that Cleese’s absurd government divorce has forced him back on the road with a comedy show, originally called “The Alimony Tour.” Some jokes:

I’m here, my friends, because frankly I need the money. I’ve fallen on hard times. I’m having to pay $20 million to a woman who I believe is the special love child of Bernie Madoff and Heather Mills.

I’m being forced to hit the road again to rack up a few grand here and a few hundred there. To comfort me my lawyer told me to imagine how much I would have had to pay if Alyce had contributed anything to the relationship — such as children, or a conversation.

I also have a suspicion that California’s government “family” courts had it in for him because he created one of the funniest mockeries of government ever, the Python sketch, “Ministry of Silly Walks.” Here’s a YouTube of it:
.

April 25, 2011

.