When you look at divorce rates and statistics for every year, you can find some common trends. This can help you understand when and why divorce tends to happen.
One trend is that August usually sees the biggest spike in divorce rates, rivaled only by a short period of time at the beginning of the year. The rates jump up from a steady number that lasts for the summer, then taper off again.
What this means in the middle of September and early October is that we’re in the part of the year when the rate of new divorce petitions is going to fall. As you may expect, divorce is the least common around the Christmas holiday season. This is because couples often decide to stick it out for a month or two, keep the holidays intact, and then get divorced at the beginning of the following year.
Why did we see that final spike of filings in August? For one thing, couples who want to split up may feel pressure to get it done quickly so that it can be over by the holidays. It often takes months to get through the process, so they want to get it underway. Additionally, many couples focus on divorce once the children go back to school, which tends to happen in late August and early September.
Even though rates are falling, though, many couples may find themselves trying to file before the upcoming string of holidays that includes Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Eve. Maybe you did not get divorced over the summer, with the children at home, but you knew you wanted to do so. Now it’s time to look into all of the legal options you have to get things started before the holidays.