Administrative backlog results in a 10% fall in divorce rates
The Office for National Statistics has released its latest statistics showing a fall in divorce rates in England and Wales. In 2018 there were 90,871 divorce cases of opposite-sex couples, which is a decrease of 10.6% compared with 2017, and the lowest number since 1971.
The Ministry of Justice’s Family Court Statistics Quarterly 2018 report indicates that as a result of divorce centres processing a backlog of work last year, divorce petitions increased by 8% in 2018. The 2018 backlog of work also resulted in a five week increase to the average time taken from date of petition to decree absolute in 2018 (to 54.3 weeks). As a result, the number of completed divorces is likely to increase in 2019 compared with 2018. The ONS expects this to translate into a higher number of completed divorces in 2019.
Divorce rates among opposite-sex couples were 8.4 per 1,000 married men and women in 2017. That has now fallen to 7.5, the lowest rate since 1971 and it is likely this fall will also have been affected by the backlog of work in divorce centres in 2018.
The statistics also reveal that the average duration of marriage among opposite-sex couples who divorced in 2018 was 12.5 years. Unreasonable behaviour was the most common reason for opposite-sex couples divorcing in 2018. It accounted for almost half (46.3%) of all decrees absolute granted, with 51.9% of wives and 36.8% of husbands petitioning on this ground. It was also the most common reason for same-sex couples divorcing.
Two years’ separation with consent was the second most common grounds for divorces granted in 2018 and accounted for more than one quarter of divorces (26.8%), while five years’ separation without consent accounted for 16.1% of divorces. Most of the remaining divorces were granted on grounds of adultery (10.1%) and 0.8% were for desertion and a combination of two or more grounds.
Since the introduction of marriages of same-sex couples, unsurprisingly the number of divorces of same-sex couples has also increased each year. There were 428 divorces of same-sex couples in 2018, increasing from 338 in 2017. Of all these petitions 3/4 were among female couples.
Amanda Erskine is a solicitor in the Family department at Barker Gotelee Solicitors.
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