The Latest Divorce Statistics Show How Common It Is, Agrees Fairfax Divorce Lawyer

Fairfax, VA (Law Firm Newswire) February 26, 2013 – Numbers released at the end of 2012 show some surprising information about divorce in the U.S.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, divorce rates have been dropping since 1996 for almost all demographic groups. While close to 50 percent of all marriages end in divorce, the numbers tell a slightly more interesting story. For first marriages, approximately 41 percent end in divorce, while 70 percent of second marriages are terminated, and 73 percent of third marriages wrapped up. In other words, the more an individual divorces, the more likely it is that they will divorce again.

“While divorce is personally upsetting to the people going through it, the truth is, they happen every day,” said Lisa McDevitt, a Fairfax divorce attorney. “In fact, there is a divorce in the U.S. every 13 seconds.”

The average age for each member of a couple going through their first divorce is 30 years old. The average length of a marriage before divorce is eight years, and if either party remarries, it is after an average wait of three years.

There are also statistics regarding the likelihood of divorce. If an individual’s parents are married, that individual’s risk of getting divorced decreases by 14 percent. If an individual waits until after college, the risk of divorce decreases by 13 percent, and if they wait until after the age of 25 to marry, there is a 34 percent less likelihood of divorce later. And while cohabitation seems to be a great idea for some people to try out married life before they wed, living together prior to marriage seems to increase the chance of divorce by 40 percent.

While raising children together can be a source of friction in a marriage, especially if child-rearing philosophies do not mesh, the divorce rate for parents is 40 percent lower than the divorce rate for couples who do not have children. Fifty percent of children in the U.S. have parents who are divorced, and 75 percent of those children live with their mother, while 43 percent do not have a father in the picture at all.

Lisa Lane McDevitt
2155 Bonaventure Drive
Vienna, VA 22181
Phone: 571-223-7642
Toll Free: 866-602-7850
http://www.mcdevittlaw.net/

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