Eleven Little-Known Facts About Divorce

About 10% of all the adults in the United States are divorced, and the chance that a first marriage will end in a call to the divorce lawyer is 33%. The chance of the parties calling for divorce mediation within five years is 20%, and every year the parents of 1.5 million children in America get divorced. These are just a few facts about divorce in America: read on for eleven much more unusual facts about divorce and divorce law.

  1. There have only been two divorced Presidents. Only Presidents Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump have taken advantage of divorce law.
  2. You’re never too old to fall out of love. The oldest divorced couple in the world are from Italy. He’s 99 and she’s 96. They got married back in 1934, but in 2011–when he found some old love letters she’d written to another man back during World War II–he demanded a divorce.
  3. Be careful about interfering in a marriage. Especially if you live in New York or Mississippi, where the law says that spouses can sue third parties for causing “alienation of affection.”
  4. Some societies have no need of legal help for divorce. Aztec law never allowed divorce for anything, and some Native American tribes wouldn’t allow a husband and wife to separate if they had children. Of course, over on the Aleutian Islands, men could just barter away wives for food or clothes if they grew tired of them, so they didn’t need divorce law either. Modern-day Philippine law also does not allow divorce for any reason, and divorces gotten outside the country are not recognized by their law.
  5. Roman society was pretty inequitable. Ancient Roman couples could jointly end their marriage simply by declaring a desire to do so in front of seven witnesses. If the women had not committed adultery she could get back all her dowry. If she had, she was only entitled to half. For men, however, there was no such thing as adultery under Roman law.
  6. Divorce can be expressed in statistics. The average length of a divorce in the United States is one year, while the average age for a women to get her first divorce is 29. The average man is 30.5 years old when he gets his first divorce. The average woman waits 3.1 years to get remarried, while the average man waits 3.3.
  7. Divorce has geographic characteristics, too. If you live in Western states, know that they have both the highest rates of marriage and divorce. The South is next, and the Northeast boasts the lowest divorce rates, with New Jersey having the lowest rate.
  8. There are some things that increase your risk of divorce. If one spouse gains more than 20% of their body weight, divorce becomes a greater possibility. It’s also more frequent among couples who have twins or triplets. Marrying someone of another race also makes you more likely to divorce.
  9. There are five major reasons given for divorce. Divorce can happen for a lot of reasons, but the five most common problems people cite when everyone gets to the law office are a loss of interest, abuse of some type, financial problems, communications problems, and infidelity.
  10. Everyone gets hurt. When couples divorce, the women are usually thrown into a less stable financial position, while the men suffer more emotionally and are more likely to turn to alcohol. Meanwhile, the children of parents who divorce are twice as likely to never finish high school and less likely to end up at college if they do.
  11. Know the danger signs of divorce. Experts say there are six signs that divorce is impending in a relationship. If you find yourself feeling as if you’re the only one interested in solving problems, rarely have sex, have stopped communicating, can’t see the good in your marriage for the bad, find yourself dreaming of life without your spouse, or feel overly dismissive or defensive, it’s time to get some marital counseling.

Divorce is not fun for anyone, but it’s a reality of life. Now you know some of the oddest facts and statistics about it!

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