40-4-101. Purposes. This chapter shall be liberally construed and applied to promote its underlying purposes, which are to:

(1) strengthen and preserve the integrity of marriage and safeguard family relationships;

(2) promote the amicable settlement of disputes that have arisen between parties to a marriage;

(3) mitigate the potential harm to the spouses and their children caused by the process of legal dissolution of marriage;

(4) make reasonable provision for spouse and minor children during and after litigation; and

(5) make the law of legal dissolution of marriage effective for dealing with the realities of matrimonial experience by making irretrievable breakdown of the marriage relationship the sole basis for its dissolution.