Divorce in Star Trek

[T'Girl]

Basically there doesn't seem to be much of it.

Future Picard and Beverly were divorced. And it's assumed that McCoy is divorced in the prime universe series, but that's never confirmed. The majority of marriages are ongoing, or they end in the death of one of the spouses.

At the end of Amok Time, after winning T'Pring as his wife (property), Spock then verbally transfers her (as property?) to another Vulcan male. While it would appear that this is what T'Pring wanted, it isn't clear if she had any actual say in the matter.

Strickly speaking, is this Vulcan divorce or annulment? Spock's marriage was dissolved.

Harry Mudd was estranged from Stella, perhaps divorced, my belief is that he just left her at some point. Kirk suggested that the dilithuim miners could have had their marriages annulled, not quite the same as divorce though.

On the other hand, marriage does seem to be alive and well in the Star Trek universe. All the main characters, when the matter has come up, have had married parents. We don't hear of everyone's parents marital status, but when was there a clear mention of a main character being a "bastard ~slash~ love child?"

There are a few secondary characters where this is the case. Worf's son Alexander is one. Worf did at one point attempt to take a marriage oath with K'Ehleyr, but she refused.

Did I miss any divorces?

 

[horatio83]

I do not get your point. You wanna read into Trek that there are few divorces and illegitimate children yet you list plenty of counterexamples.

I am personally quite conservative and think that marriage should be connected with the serious intention to stick together in rough times. But what other people do or don't is none of my business.

Alexander is not called a bastard because the people on the Enterprise aren't reactionary assholes who care about whether Worf is married or not.
This reminds me of a family story about a couple from three generations ago. They were not allowed to have a relation but they simply screwed until she became pregnant such that the shame of an illegitimate child made their parents sanction the marriage.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I'm thinking people are more pragmatic about relationships not necessarily lasting forever. People also live a lot longer in Trek times. I would be surprised if people were marrying in their 20's when the life expectancy is over 100 and fertility is probably extended as well.

I would imagine a lot of people just get on with their career, have children with a partner when it fits in to do so and don't assume that they will be welded to that person forever. Going through the ceremony will be a romantic thing to do but not the heavy expectation it is today.

 

[Jedi Marso]

I expect that marriages in the future (both real life and as sometimes already depicted in SF) will tend towards legal contracts with varying durations, which can be either renewed or allowed to dissolve at the end date. This would be the legal facet of marriage.

The spiritual and/or religious facet of marriage will be dependent on the values of those involved. This would result in some marriages being considered 'unbreakable' due to religious and/or cultural beliefs, while others would remain on a strictly contractual or legal footing.

And in a truly tolerant society, the only real guiding principles would be: to each their own, and to ensure that any children resulting from the marriage are loved and cared for regardless of what happens with the marriage contract between the principles. In fact, it might even be customary to include all of the potential 'what ifs' and specifics regarding children in the marriage contract itself.

 

[horatio83]

I kinda prefer the current rules, that marriage implies some general rights and responsibilities and lasts until one partner dies yet the "standard" marriage can be modified via a prenuptial agreement.
Undoing this "standard" marriage and making it totally contingent certainly follows liberal logic but liberal logic, as much as I like it, has its limits. The current form leaves the same options to modify marriage open yet sets a standard for people who do not wanna to deal too much about all the legal implications of marrying.
Naturally this has an impact upon the cultural view upon marriage. If it is just a contract you move a bit away from the concept of romantic love and towards arranged (of course not by other people but by yourselves) marriage.

As marriage is often perceived through a religious or a liberal lense, gay marriage being the best example, I think it is useful to keep this third, romantic perspective in mind. If marriage is either religiously determined or purely contingent you lose the pure horror of proposing to the person you love. It is after all obscene to ask somebody to spent his or her entire life with you and endure all your stupid idiosyncrasies.
From this perspective premodern arranged marriages as well as these liberal postmodern contract (let's hedge against risks) type of marriages seem like a way to blunten and suppress these horrors that actual romantic love implies.

 

[sbk1234]

Pulaski commented that she was married 3 times, and was still friends with her ex-husbands. Also, Guinan commented that she was married 27 times. I'd hate to think she was a widow 27 times! Talk about an unlucky wife!

 

[Timo]

Perhaps worth noting is that most of the marriages we have seen have failed to demonstrate a religious component. Sisko was the only one to even consider being married by a clergyman, as far as onscreen events go.

Are Starfleet line officers perhaps also religious officials, or just justices of peace? Or is marriage something that does not require any sort of official component, be it religious or "civilian", and is just a voiced or unvoiced arrangement between the two or more participants, with zero legal or religious consequences.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Greg Cox]

Also, Guinan commented that she was married 27 times. I'd hate to think she was a widow 27 times! Talk about an unlucky wife!

Or the most diabolical serial killer of the 24th century . . . .

 

[T'Girl]

Guinan commented that she was married 27 times. I'd hate to think she was a widow 27 times!

If she was marrying outside of her own long lived species, it possible that she was simply out living her spouses.

Are Starfleet line officers perhaps also religious officials, or just justices of peace?

It possible that among the many "hats" the Captain wears is that of the head religious authority for the various faiths on board, should there be no crewmember who is the equivalent of ordained in a given religion. The marriage ceremony of Robert and Angela had a religious component, having Kirk be the stand-in priest of their faith would serve to consecration their marriage.

You wanna read into Trek that there are few divorces and illegitimate children yet you list plenty of counterexamples

I listed three and one respectively.

 

[Greg Cox]

You wanna read into Trek that there are few divorces and illegitimate children yet you list plenty of counterexamples

I listed three and one respectively.

Well, if we're taking a count of "illegitmate" kids, there's always David Marcus--and whatever other random love children Kirk scattered throughout the galaxy. (That Scalosian queen in "Wink of an Eye" made a real effort to have Kirk's baby. Who's to say she didn't succeed?)

And, of course, there's Gul Dukat's half-Bajoran daughter, Deanna Troi's energy-being "child," and Janeway and Paris's newts!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

and Janeway and Paris's newts!

They got better...

.

At the end of Amok Time, after winning T'Pring as his wife (property), Spock then verbally transfers her (as property?) to another Vulcan male. While it would appear that this is what T'Pring wanted, it isn't clear if she had any actual say in the matter.

Strickly speaking, is this Vulcan divorce or annulment? Spock's marriage was dissolved.

Spock pointed out that whatever he chose to do, it would conform to T'Pring's wishes. She knew all possible outcomes of the challenge she brought: either Spock wins, and thus he wouldn't want her, or Kirk wins, and *he* certainly wouldn't want her. T'Pring knew well in advance that whatever happened in the ring, she would have Stonn. So she got exactly what she wished.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

T'Pring is pretty awesome in how she plots to circumvent her society's strictures by using the rules to her advantage.

 

[Greg Cox]

And, of course, it wasn't too hard to trick Picard into thinking he had a kid he didn't know about.

So clearly these things happen on the final frontier . . . .

 

[Gov Kodos]

Also, Guinan commented that she was married 27 times. I'd hate to think she was a widow 27 times! Talk about an unlucky wife!

Or the most diabolical serial killer of the 24th century . . . .

Or perhaps the females of her species eats their mates?

 

[-Brett-]

You wanna read into Trek that there are few divorces and illegitimate children yet you list plenty of counterexamples

I listed three and one respectively.

Given how few major characters were married and even fewer had kids, that still counts as plenty.

 

[Gotham Central]

Do we know whether to not Sulu was ever married? We know he has a daughter but no mention of a wife.

As for divorce, We know that Be'lanna's parents were divorced.

 

[Timo]

Do we know whether to not Sulu was ever married? We know he has a daughter but no mention of a wife.

No canonical idea either way. Peter David in his novel Captain's Daughter tries to claim that Demora came from something of a "drive-by shooting", but that would go rather badly against the dramatic intent of the ST:GEN scene - namely, that Sulu had found time for a "proper" family, while Kirk could at best have sired kids he never even got to meet.

Whether our heroes need a "marriage" in order to get a "wife" is unknown. The ceremony in "Balance of Terror" indicated that there are "laws" and "many beliefs" involved in creating "bonds of matrimony", but didn't really tell whether said bonds are common or uncommon in the creation of a husband-wife combo.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Greg Cox]

One often gets the impression that the Siskos are the only functional family in the Federation. Everybody else seems to be estranged from their various long-lost parents, siblings, children, etc. Or at least they start out that way.

The obvious moral: Overcoming racism, poverty, war, and superstition is easy. But, even in the future, dealing with your family will still drive you nuts!

 

[Star Wolf]

Did they explain how Leah Brahms was able to marry Geordi, divorced or widowed? Or was that just a Q futureverse?

 

[Timo]

No explanation given in the episodes; perhaps Mr and Mrs Brahms just decided to be more open as their relationship progressed?

The Genesis Wave books do postulate that Mr Brahms died some time after the TV episodes and the initial movies, ca. 2376.

Timo Saloniemi