UK Stats on Marriage, Divorce & Cohabitation: Maldives Update
It’s always fascinating to see the trends and fluctuations in both marriage and divorce rates for England and Wales, and then compare them with our own experiences here at LGFL. Directors Rita Gupta and Anne Leiper take a look at the latest statistics, and offer their personal insights.
The latest ONS statistics on marriage and divorce cover 2021-2022, a period when England and Wales was emerging from the pandemic lockdowns. So it’s not surprising that marriages in 2022 were up by 12.3% on 2019. Almost a quarter of a million couples tied the knot, with 3.2% of all marriages being same sex couples, the highest number since 2014.
Cohabitating couples before marriage
A major headline figure was that 9 in 10 couples were already living together (cohabiting) prior to their marriage. For opposite-sex marriages, this was the highest figure since records began in 1994. It’s perhaps less surprising when viewed alongside the median ages of couples in opposite sex marriages:
- Men: 32.7 years
- Women: 31.2 years
Rita Gupta says: “When cohabiting couple marry, their finances are already inevitably intertwined. They may also bring considerable assets to the marriage, and may already having children between them. That’s when a pre-nuptial agreement is more important now than ever. Whilst not legally binding, the courts are also taking pre-nup agreements into consideration much more.”
Anne Leiper says: “Cohabitating couple have far less legal rights when they separate. A cohabitation agreement can lay down what each couple contributes, and what they have brought to the relationship too. It’s more than a pre-nup, it’s a living agreement that needs to be reviewed and updated to reflect changes in your family and offer more protection should the relationship not work out.”
Marriage rates and duration
Overall, marriage rates have been dropping. In the 30-year period between 1992 and 2022, the overall number of marriages has fallen by 20%. The changes in our society are also reflected in that 83% of marriages were civil ceremonies and 17% religious, compared with 50.4% being civil ceremonies in 1992.
Perhaps this increase in marriage timespans was one factor in why the median length of marriage prior to divorce also increased:
- 12.9 years for opposite-sex couples
- 7.5 years for male same-sex couples
- 6.3 years for female same-sex couples
Rita says: “The longer couples stay together, the more mutual assets, property, and children (!) they may create. It becomes harder to separate who contributes what, which in turn affects any separation or divorce agreement. We specialise in these more complex cases, especially where minor children are involved. We have the experience and expertise to help disentangle lives to achieve the best outcome for all involved.”
Divorce rates and timescales
Divorce rates are also falling, according to the latest ONS figures for 2022. Just over 80,00 divorces were granted in England and Wales in 2022, an almost 30% decrease compared with 2021 and the lowest figure since 1971. There was also a 22.8% decrease in civil partnership dissolutions compared with 2021.
No-fault divorce became law in April 2022, so the above ONS stats include both the old and new divorce systems. A more up to date source of statistics on the impact of the legislative change comes from the Family Court Statistics Quarterly: October to December 2023. In this quarter, there were 23,500 applications for divorce or civil partnership dissolution, with 75% from sole applicants, and 25% from joint applicants. In 2023 overall, there were:
- 110,770 divorce applications (down 9% on 2022)
- 103,500 final orders granted (up 29% on 2022)
What also changed was the time taken:
“The mean average time for divorce and annulment cases to reach first disposal was 42 weeks in October to December 2023 – this includes both old and new divorce cases… . For new cases alone, the mean average time was 37 weeks.”
Rita says: “In this world of overnight deliveries to our door and on-demand entertainment, we see people turning to online divorce process believing it will be quicker. It isn’t. No-fault divorce has a series of fixed timelines for proceeding from one stage to another, which are set in legislation. You cannot dodge these. Add in the pre-existing court backlogs and delays to these timescales, and divorce is taking longer in 2024 than many want or expect.”
Anne says: “Our holistic approach can help couples to divorce without the need for court, but any divorce will take at least six months. So, both parties need to have a little patience and accept these timescales from the moment they decide to divorce.”
Worldwide divorce rates
Analysis of the 2022 global “crude” divorce rates (the number of divorces per 1,000 people) showed that the UK crude divorce rate was 1.7 in 2022, sitting at the global average of 1.8. It also revealed that the country with the highest rate is - The Maldives. (We so did not see that one coming!)
A better divorce with LGFL
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