win a resort - trapese cartoonMany industries have felt the pinch in a variety of ways, through the current financial squeeze. One very unexpected drop has been in the area of divorces and separations, as fewer couples file for divorce. Is it that the credit crunch has made it more difficult for couples to sell jointly owned homes, plus the greater difficulty of funding two separate households?

Grant Thornton’s recent survey of around 20,000 solicitors, revealed that almost half of all surveyed matrimonial lawyers say the number of divorces has decreased. Robert Kerr, partner at Grant Thornton’s Forensic and Investigation Services said, “The reasons for the drop vary but certainly the financial carve-up that follows divorce settlements will be at the forefront of a couple’s minds when contemplating divorce.”

President of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, (AAML) Gary Nickelson, says, “For many spouses, the divorce process involves a great deal of long-term planning and waiting for better economic terms is often just another element of the overall process. A sudden drop in the net worth can effectively postpone the final decision from being made.”

The Office for National Statistics in Britain stated earlier this year that the number of divorces had dropped from 12.2 per 1000 couples in 2006, to 11.9 in 2007. This is a 26 year low.  AAML reported an overall 27% decrease in the number of divorces.

A continuous decrease in divorces in the past seven years has been reported in Australia. The divorce rate is 23.6% lower than it was in 1986.

“The rate of marriage has dropped and therefore the rate of divorce has also dropped,” says Julian Lipson, a British lawyer.

Other authorities state the lower divorce rates are simply a reflection of forty years of increased government spending in the areas that show the effects of broken homes, thus creating a cultural change in attitudes towards marriage.

Is the world really heading for longer-lasting marriages, are couples pulling together more, or is it simply that financial considerations are at the base of the trend?

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3 Responses to “Divorce Lawyers Lose Out”

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    [...] Other authorities state the lower divorce rates are simply a reflection of forty years of increased government spending in the areas that show the effects of broken homes, thus creating a cultural change in attitudes towards marriage. … [...]…

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