For divorce and family law attorneys, January is known as “Divorce Month” and January 6th is known as “Divorce Day.” There is often a surge of divorce filings in January as people tend to postpone separating until after the holidays season making January one of the busiest months for divorce and family law attorneys, followed by March. The holiday season is stressful as it is, adding relationship problems into the mix can be recipe for disaster. Sometimes divorce can even be a result of the holidays, otherwise known as “the straw that broke the camel’s back.” Couples often put off filing for divorce until after the holidays due to family reasons and financial reasons. According to divorcenet.com the eight most common reasons people get divorced is due to lack of commitment, lack of compatibility, communication problems, extramarital affairs, financial problems, substance abuse, domestic abuse, and conflicts over family responsibilities.
Current Divorce Statistics
Many people dream of getting married, but sometimes that dream can turn into a nightmare. In today’s world getting divorced is just as common as getting married. The United States has the sixth highest divorce rate worldwide with 2.9 individuals being divorced out of every 1,000 people. While the United States is one of the countries with the highest divorce rates, this rate has actually decreased over the past decade.
Colorado has a divorce rate at 12%, where 13.52 people out of every 1,000 have been divorced in 2021 ranking as the state with the 15th highest divorce rate in the country. Colorado divorce rates have increased by 4% over the past 3 years. In the state of Colorado, El Paso county has the highest divorce rate, followed by Denver County and Aspen has the highest divorce rate of any city in Colorado.
Baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964 account for the highest divorce rates while individuals 75+ account for the age group with the lowest divorce rates. Younger generations are also seeing a downwards trend in divorce rates. However, they also have the lowest marriage rates as well. While younger generations tend to put off marriage longer than previous generations, they tend to stay married, however, only time will tell if divorce rates continue to stay low for Millennials and Gen Z.
How has COVID-19 played a role in Divorce Rates?
The pandemic presented unplanned stress in everyone’s life. Many things were disrupted by the pandemic and marriage is no exception. When the world shut down at the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic everyone was confined to their homes and often didn’t physically engage with people that weren’t under the same roof. During this time many couples were forced to spend more time together than they ever had before, working from home, and adjusting to a new reality. The pandemic created stress for everyone and put many relationships to the test. While we can’t completely blame coronavirus for the spike in divorce rates from 2020 to 2021, being with your partner 24/7 can make it difficult to suppress any relationship issues and even cause those issues to rise to the surface.
Divorce Predictions for 2022
In 2020, approximately 22,592 Coloradans filed for divorce and around 25,000 Coloradans were anticipated to file for divorce by the end of 2021. This rate amongst Coloradoans is expected to continue to rise moving into 2022. Of course, this will depend on many factors, including marriage rates. While marriage was once very common, marriage rates are declining and are at an all-time low. More people, especially younger generations are living together but not getting married, which plays a big role in the overall decline in divorce rates in the United States over the past decade.
If you’re considering a divorce and don’t know where to start, schedule a consultation with a Colorado Legal Group attorney by calling (720) 594-7360 or submit a free case evaluation on this page.