What You May Not Know About Divorce

Most of us know someone who is stuck in an unhappy marriage—probably several people, in fact. With all the misery we hear about, plenty of people are still getting married, hoping that their love story is immune to the wretchedness they see elsewhere.  But nearly as common as marriage in this country is divorce. What do we know about divorce in the modern era?

• The median length of a marriage in America is eight years.
• 70 percent of couples say they had no idea what marriage was all about prior to tying the knot.
• One factor that increases the chance of divorce is living together prior to marriage.
• Households with earnings of $200,000 or more divorce at a rate of about 30 percent, compared to a rate of 50 percent for those below the poverty line.
• The higher the education level of couples, the lower the divorce rate.
• In 2021 there were about 700,000 divorces in America, with marriages occurring at nearly three times that rate.
• One in two first marriages wind up in divorce, and those rates go up with each subsequent marriage.
• Roughly two out of three second marriages end with a split.
• About three in four third marriages wind up in divorce.
• Both divorce rates and marriage rates have fallen in the past 20 years.
• Two of every five marriages involve at least one person who has been married previously.
• The average cost of a divorce in the United States is $7,000.
• While divorced men remarry at a rate of over 60 percent, just over half of divorced women decide to take the plunge again.
• Six out of every 100 divorced couples remarry each other—and 75 percent of them stay married the second time.
• People who are married live longer than singles, with divorced men faring the worst in terms of life expectancy.
• About half of divorcing couples own their homes and have to figure out what to do with them.
• Married couples who have divorced friends are 75 percent more likely to divorce as well.
• Cheating was the main reason for the split according to three out of five divorced couples.
• A quarter of divorcees cite domestic violence as the cause of the divorce.
• Two-thirds of men and three-fourths of women say their spouses should have tried harder in their marriages.
• In professions where workers are required to be away from home after normal business hours– such as bartending—there are higher divorce rates.
• The majority of divorces– about 70—are initiated by women.
• Divorces can take as long as a year to finalize when they are contested, although uncontested divorces that don’t involve children can be completed in just three months on average.
• 15 percent of couples who marry sign a prenup.

Advocating for You in Divorce

If divorce is in the cards for you, the experienced Baltimore divorce attorneys at The Law Office of Hasson D. Barnes can help. Schedule a confidential consultation in our office today.