According to data from the Office for National Statistics the number of divorces dropped reaching the lowest level since 1971. There were 80,057 divorces granted in England and Wales in 2022 a 29.5% decrease compared to 113,505 divorces in 2021.
There is a possibility that the number of divorces and dissolutions granted during 2022 may have been affected by the introduction of the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 (DDSA 2020). The DDSA 2020 was passed in June 2020 and came into effect on 6 April 2022. The act replaced the “five grounds” now allowing couples to divorce without assigning grounds and introduced new mandatory waiting periods requiring applicants to wait a minimum of 20 weeks from the start of proceedings until applying for the conditional order of divorce.
This is the first year that the date includes divorces and dissolutions under the new legislation and provided the following insightful information:
“The cumulative percentages of marriages ending in divorce before their 25th wedding anniversary has increased over time. For couples who married in 1963 (the first cohort with data available), 23% had divorced before their 25th anniversary. This has steadily risen to 41% for couples who married in 1997 (the latest marriage cohort to potentially reach their 25th anniversary)”.
“Marriages ending before their 10th anniversary has increased from 1 in 10 couples married in 1965 (10%) to 1 in 4 couples in 1995 (25%). For couples married more recently, however, there has been a decrease, with less than 1 in 5 (18%) marriages in 2012 ending in divorce before their 10th wedding anniversary (the most recent cohort to reach their 10th anniversary)”.
“For more recent marriages (in 2012 to 2015) only 1 in 10 had ended in divorce before their 7th anniversary. This level was last seen for couples who married in 1972”.
“For those with less than 30 years of marriage, the most common duration of marriage for opposite-sex couples getting divorced in 2022 was 7 years, with 4,143 divorces”. A statistic that some may say demonstrates that the 7-year itch does indeed exist.
The seven-year itch is the idea that the rate of divorce peaks around the seven-year mark of a couple’s relationship. Whilst there is no definitive proof that the seven-year itch is real, the data from the Office for National Statistics suggest the term may have some basis and it’s a phenomenon that can be observed.
We offer a fixed fee divorce at £1000 plus VAT which includes making the necessary application to bring the marriage/civil partnership to an end plus the divorce court fee, which is subject to increases set by HMCTS. Once the application has been issued, there is a minimum 20-week period until a conditional order (formerly Decree Nisi) can be granted. This 20-week period gives the parties a period of time to reflect whether they want to proceed with the divorce. After the 20-week period elapses, a conditional order for divorce can be granted. Following the conditional order being granted, a further period of 43 days must elapse before you can apply for a final order (formerly Decree Absolute). Once the final order has been granted, the marriage will be formally dissolved.
At CP Law Solicitors we understand divorce can be a difficult and stressful process. Our experienced solicitors are here to guide you and offer support along the way.
