Grand jury describes Salt Lake County probate court as a "divorce mill" which granted 300 divorces in the previous twelve-month period, primarily on "ground of incompatibility of temperament, different aims and objects in life." Eighty percent of diverced couples come to Utah for divorces from such places as San Francisco, New York City, Chicago, Terre Haute, and St. Louis. Report finds that 13 percent of divorces are granted the same day of the complaint, and total 42 percent within a week of the application, and a total of 85 percent are granted within a month of the application. The report continues, "[A]nd your committee have good reason to believe that other county probate courts of the territory are likewise engaged in this class of divorce business, to an equal if not greater extent." Two months later U.S. senator Dawes introduces a bill to remove divorce from the jurisdiction of Mormon probate courts and limit divorce cases to federally appointed non-Mormon judges.
[The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
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