-fault divorce law showed that most women are economically worse off after divorce than during marriage. Since California law mandates equal division of the community property and since women tend to have less earning ability than men, divorce often results in an economic disaster for women and the children in their custody. In contrast, men tend to enjoy an increase in their standard of living after divorce. Many of these results could be explained by the fact that most divorcing couples are young and without any substantial assets to divide. Consequently, their standards of living after divorce are dependent upon their respective earning abilities. The applicability of this particular study to other states and the effects of no-fault divorce as a whole has been criticized because of California's unique divorce laws. In particular, since California law mandates equal distribution of community/marital property, it will result in unfairness with regard to spouses with unequal earning power.
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