Monday, July 26, 2010

So More people are divorcing?

Yet another boring article by the Daily Mail this time claiming that the Divorce rate is about to rise as the recession is ending. It says that Divorce rates fell due to the recession. Have they considered that the annual total may have fallen due to the reduction in marriages over the past decades?

I have noticed no difference. The Courts are still overloaded and this will get worse with the proposed budget cuts.

Divorce results in financial loss but is chosen because the alternative, staying together, would result in more misery.

I have never met anyone who says they can't afford to get divorced... But I have met lots of people who say they can't afford to get married!!!! The decision to divorce is a complex one, normally an emotional one, and the financial impact on lifestyle is just one of the factors to be taken into consideration. Maybe more people are delaying waiting for financial matters to improve... maybe, maybe not.

The only way to tell is to offer a real financial incentive to stay together, the working tax credit system creates a viable alternative for many women who would otherwise be on benefits or stuck in a miserable marriage. Some women are financially better off divorced, by working only 16 hours a week and taking into account their entitlement to tax credits together with the child maintenance they receive, than they were married!! This is a financial incentive to divorce and was created by the last Government to encourage single parents to work. Instead, I consider that it has increased the number of households dependent on the State, as many of these women may have remained in their marriages.

Oh dear, a Government that set out to destroy child poverty may simply have encouraged more divorce!!!

1 comment:

Thomas Huxley said...

I have never met anyone who says they can't afford to get divorced... But I have met lots of people who say they can't afford to get married!!!!

Very interesting statement. I think that you would have to force people and find reasons to wed them. However, people aren't as gun shy or hesitant when it comes to divorcing. It's probably because, if you really hate your spouse, you'll do whatever it takes and find a good reason to divorce him/her.