Divorce Rates Are Now Dropping!

In the US, there has been a considerable drop in the number of divorce cases over the last 12 months. This trend has been noticed by lawyers and relationship experts in several cities and is further proven by official records collected by the Superior Court of California.

Although the divorce records are kept sealed in a few states such as New York, several others do make the figures available. For example, the data related to family law cases in all the 58 counties in the state are collected and tracked by the Superior Court of California. The figures show a downward trend in the number of divorce cases in several counties.

In Los Angeles, a 17.3 percent dip was observed. Around 12,750 people had filed for a divorce in the county between March 2020 to February 2021, which is much lower than the previous year’s record of 15,222 filings. The same trend has also been noticed in other parts of the US. For lawyers across the country, the uncertainty, as well as the financial issues brought in by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, are major reasons for the same.

According to Harriet N. Cohen, a divorce lawyer and the founder of Cohen Stine Kapoor in Manhattan, divorce cases have been plummeting after a steady surge during the early months of the pandemic.

In her opinion, uncertainty has led to the drop in the number of cases, although there is no doubt that the cases will surge again in the future. In fact, she regards that while vaccines are essential to bringing back normalcy in the world, the same is likely to act as a catalyst in increasing the number of divorce cases further.

Financial problems, boredom, extramarital affairs, as well as abuse have been major reasons for divorce filing – both during the pandemic and earlier. But, the pandemic also witnessed situations in which couples decided to stick with each other even though their relationship was troubled.

Cohen believes that the fear and negativities brought in by the pandemic have resulted in people choosing to stay married. Of course, there is a high chance of them divorcing in the future. But, the Covid-19 scenario combined with the fact that divorces can be really expensive has been deterring people from taking this decision at present.

There are other reasons for the slump, too. The rising number of divorces soon after the outbreak of the pandemic was, to a large extent, between couples who already had major issues between them. This theory is also supported by Lee Wilson, a relationship expert based in Nashville, Tennessee. He is of the opinion that prior to the pandemic, these issues had been tolerable since the couple could get breaks from each other.

But with the start of the pandemic, they got stuck at home together, forcing them to interact more often. As a result, they couldn’t escape from the issues in their relationships anymore, thereby deciding to separate.

This can be proven by the huge spike in the number of divorce consultations noticed in several parts of the country. In California, for example, San Jose Divorce Attorneys saw a sudden rise in the number of divorce consultations at the beginning of the pandemic – to an extent never seen before.

However, as Wilson found out through the results of a survey sent out in February 2021, the Covid-19 crisis did have some positive effects on relationships, too. Around 17 percent of the surveyors agreed that the long months of staying together during the pandemic had worked in strengthening their relationships with their partners.

In other words, being at home together for the long duration of over a year has enabled people to handle their issues in a better way, leading to the reduction of divorce filings.

Lawyers dealing with divorce cases, therefore, do have a piece of advice for couples looking for a divorce. They recommend waiting for some time till the pandemic situation improves, and meanwhile working on solving their mutual issues.