It’s worth mentioning that even if you think that your marriage is over and divorce is your only choice, it may still be worth looking into the alternatives. A Separation could give you some more time to decide what’s going to be best for you, and counselling may help you and your partner save your marriage. If you do decide that divorce is the best option, follow the link for more information on Divorce.

According to the figures, the main story is that divorce rates have increased in 2010, which is the first yearly rise in divorces in 8 years, and as such could represent a broader buck in the trend. The 119,589 divorces present in 2010 in comparison with the 113,949 in 2009 shows an increase of 4.9%. However, this increased number does not necessarily mean an increasing prevalence of divorce, as there are other factors to take into account. A better explanation can be made from comparing the number of divorces with the size of the married populace, or in other words the divorce rate, and if we look at the divorce rate we see it being 10.5% in 2009 and increasing by 0.6% in 2010 to 11.1%. This is also an increase, but does this mean that marriage is falling?

It is sensible to say that 2010’s results seem to be more of a glitch in the broader trend of a decline in divorce rates, rather than a shift in the attitude in society towards marriage. For one thing, we have seen such similar glitches at the end of previous recessions, such as the 1990-1992 recession which caused a spike in divorce rates in 1993. There is a clear link of causality between financial recession and divorce, with a lag between the worst of the recession and the divorce rates, with the recession causing the initial reaction of trying to stick together in the hard times, a subsequent increase of financial strain which eventually leads to break up, with extra time needed for the legal proceedings.

Divorce rates in the last decade have been falling fairly significantly despite what you may think, but it should not be forgotten that these decreasing rates could easily be the result of previous decreasing trends leaving a smaller married population in the first place. Having said this, it can be said that this decreasing rate is suggesting that people who are now married are less likely to divorce on average.

Men between 40 and 44 was the most common age group for divorce, though the average age of divorce is slowly increasing, with a 0.2% increase for both sexes rising to 44.2 (male) and 41.7 (female), while the length of marriages has remained the same. The highest divorce rate for men was in the 30-34 year group, which is a large increase from 2009’s 25-29. Could marriages be starting later and lasting longer?

The 2010 figures showed that a third of all marriages failed since 1995, which was an increase from 22% from 1970-95, but the ONS overall is presenting a case for future decline.

Things to be taken into consideration
The usual starting point is to presume that the assets of both parties – known as matrimonial assets, which are the assets that a couple build up during the lifetime of the marriage, and also assets that are brought in at the start of the marriage – should be split equally between them. However, if there is a legitimate reason, then this equal split can be modified. The ‘clean-break’ procedure is often the easiest, but cases are not always this simple, for example when there are children involved.

Matrimonial assets include the shared home of the former partners, joint and savings accounts, endowment policies, personal possessions (known as chattels), vehicles and pensions.

Considerations for the ratio of the financial split should include the welfare of the children, the present state of finances for each individual, any future resources, the financial requirements of each party, the former standard of living for each party, the length of the marriage, the age of each partner, and any medical conditions, physical or mental disabilities of each partner.

While fault can often be the grounds for divorce, the fault of either party is, for the vast majority of the time, not taken into consideration when deciding the financial split. Courts have the power to order periodic payments for spouses, lump sum amounts, periodic payments for children, or a pension sharing order.

Negotiating finances
Before the process of financial negotiation starts, each party is required to disclose their financial situation. They also need to include their current plans and objectives, and the most important aspects of their future plans. Since the financial negotiations are separate from the legal divorce proceedings, there is no set time limit for the negotiations to occur. To ensure that each party remains truthful to the agreed financial plan, an application for a Consent Order should be made once an agreement has been reached.

Final settlement
The agreements made vary from case to case, and there are no set rules, but important matters for consideration include the selling or maintaining of the family home, the payments for spouses and children, the division of pensions, and the amendment to current wills.

Problematic areas
Joint accounts can be problematic, and interim financial orders should be applied for until final settlement has been achieved. Sole home ownership means that the other party should register their interest in the property with the Land Registry, which ensures the house is not sold without the consent of both parties.

Children go through a range of emotions when their parents go through divorce, with common feelings such as guilt, frustration, sadness and anger, and this emotional cacophony can make life at school difficult, in some cases even rendering a whole term or year useless, but there are solutions.

One particular divorcee has had experience of the issue of children and divorce with her son going through middle school when she and her husband separated. Despite the difficulties, her and her husband decided to live close to each other in the interests of their son, with both remaining involved in parenting and education to provide as stable a life for him as they could. She highly approves of cooperative parenting after separation and divorce, believing that the interests of the child should be held paramount. She also advocates the advice and support of teachers, social workers, counsellors and so on to help monitor the child and provide them with stability. People like this can see things that parents will often miss, due to their own personal troubles.

A professor of psychology at the University of Virginia agrees with this process, because this will make teachers more sensitive and aware, though he states that parents need to avoid putting teachers in the middle, just as children shouldn’t be put in the middle. The following tips will help you traverse the emotional ravine of your child’s life during and after a divorce.

• Look at the timing of your separation – The first two months of the year are the most popular for separation, though the start of the summer vacation may be better as it helps the child adjust before returning to school.

• Let the child know first – Tell your child before anyone else in the child’s life, as it does not do to have the child hear from anyone else but you. Whenever new situations arise it is always best to be honest.

• Put the child’s needs first – Set aside your differences for the good of your child. This can help for unity at school events. This doesn’t mean you have to talk to each other or sit together, but it does mean you have to be adults.

• Don’t burden your child -Your child will have enough to deal with, and trying to confide in them or a source of help is unwise.

• Don’t make things worse – Complaining about your ex-partner, or other negative talk should be avoided.

Ken Clarke, the UK’s Justice Secretary, announced recently that the government is planning to revise the Children Act 1989, with the effect of family court judges needing to presume that formerly to a dispute, parenting would had been shared. This is an apparent step forward for equal rights for parents of both sexes, or in legal same sex partnerships, in terms of the contact that each parent would be able to have after the dispute has been resolved.

Ken Clarke recently spoke on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4, and highlighted that the motivation for this new revision reflects the views of most people, and that responsibilities and rights for both parents should be preserved, proving the greatest opportunity for children to stay in on-going contact with both parents.

He further stated the fact that society now recognises the equality of parent-ship and right to involvement in the lives of their children, which is step forward from previous maternal favourability in legal disputes, and this amendment in the court of justice reflects this evolution in the proper way.

A ministerial working group has been established furthermore in response to this societal change to help form the most appropriate draft for the amendment, with the group made up of five members – the justice minister Jonathon Djanogly, the work and pensions minister Maria Miller, the equalities minister Lynne Featherstone, and the education ministers Sarah Teather and Tim Loughton.

A similar revision to the Children Act 1989 is also being implemented to help improve the rights for grandparents after divorce, and the ministerial working group is expected to investigate the continuation of a child’s relationship with members of both sides of the family to help recognise its importance.

The ministerial group will be working to push for unprecedented deadlines for the court to deal with in relation to the amendment, and Clarke has stated that courts will have six months to act in cases which involve child custody and adoption, though leniency will be given for situations that are more complicated.

This news has followed an independent review on the system of family justice, where the economist David Norgrove stated that it would be too problematic for judges to appoint and divide child contact time between divorced parents. It is however, clear with the government approval of this instalment that there is disagreement with Norgrove’s findings.

Furthermore, an additional £10 million will be reserved by the government to help support mediation services to reduce the number of cases ending up in court. If cases do end up in court, then the government believes that the amendment will significantly aid each parent in equal contact with their child or children, to help eliminate exclusion and to promote fairness and stability.

• The limit of personal allowance income tax has been increased, which is an ever-so-slight piece of good news for spouses working part time, or on low self-employment income. Apparently around 2 million will now avoid this tax completely, but time will tell.

• Various benefits such as child, housing and tax benefits appear to have made a transition from RPI to CPI, which could lead to a reduction in the true value of forward payments. This means we should expect civil lawyers representing wives to push for the connection between payments such as child maintenance and RPI, to reduce the effect the devaluation of tax credits and child benefits in the following years. On the other side of the battle line, lawyers representing husbands might instead fight for the inflation connection to be based on the lower measure of CPI.

• Child benefits have seen a significant piece of news, with the threshold for payments increasing by £10,000 to £60,000. The impact of this can be made clear – A parent with three children who is on a £60,000 salary will lose out on roughly £2,400 a year due to these charges. This new legislation should be considered when it comes to negotiating child maintenance payments with an increasing wage that could have an impact on the benefit.

• The fact has remained that there will be no tax breaks for payers of child maintenance and spousal maintenance, and the payee will still have to pay no tax on such payments.

• Hope is on the rise for potential new house builders looking to enter the market: A NewBuy scheme for new property building with values of up to half a million will reduce the current market rate of 20% for the deposit, down to a rate in-between 5 and 10%. This could prove especially helpful for people with little capital but with big ideas.

• Mr Osborne has stated that the pay for the public sector will become more responsive. The implications of this are as ambiguous as the statement given by the chancellor, though some are saying that pay differentials will increase in similar roles but in different parts of the UK, while some sectors will see pay frozen. Knowing just how ‘responsive’ payment will be is something people are going to want to know, especially when considering spousal and child maintenance. And what now for the RPI link anyway?

• Consumer goods such as books, food and clothing still remain under VAT exemption, which is a blessing for parents raising young kids, who are receiving child support maintenance.

If you’re starting to feel that your marriage might be over, a divorce doesn’t have to be your only option – particularly if it might leave you significantly worse off. Follow the link for more information about Separation to see whether this might be a better solution to your problems.

The study indicated that 27% of divorce cases are now caused by people simply falling out of love. Affairs by a spouse are now only cited in 25% of the divorce cases. This is followed by unreasonable behavior (17%) and a mid life crisis (10%).

One reason for affairs dropping from the top spot seems to be people’s perceptions about affairs. In the past, if one spouse was caught cheating, it was usually considered to be deal breaker. It seems that more people are no longer immediately jumping to divorce and are instead sometimes choosing to stay in the relationship in the hopes that it can be saved.

It is difficult to determine the exact reason for this shift in the way people think, but it has been suggested that celebrities play a role. There have been several high profile situations where a spouse has been caught in an extramarital affair, but the other spouse has made the decision to not seek a divorce.

Money problems were cited by 5% of the couples in the study. The number has stayed steady over the recent years even though the economy put much more pressure on people from a financial perspective. Even though the rate of divorce hasn’t changed, solicitors still believe that the economy has had an influence over divorce cases.

When the people in the study were asked if they have delayed filing for divorce due to financial reasons, 82% responded with a yes. People responded by saying that the lack of the liquidity of their assets or the lack of value were primarily responsible for the delay in continuing with their divorce.

The bad economy has also played a role in divorce cases for another important reason. Many solicitors have indicated that they have clients who specifically wanted to file their divorce during the economic downturn. Their desire to rush the process was based upon the fact that their assets would be valued at a lower level and that would result in a smaller settlement for their spouse.

It is much more expensive for two people to maintain separate homes and lives than it is for them to live together. The reality of the poor economy is that frequently, the husband and wife simply can’t afford to live separately until their house is sold and the proceeds divided among them. Unfortunately, the house market is in such a state that this could literally take years to happen. The result is that many people are forced to continue living in the same home as the spouse they are divorcing.

There are many things that will have to be agreed upon in order to live in the same house while going through a divorce. Many people have found it helpful to use a form a mediation or a collaborative process to help them determine the rules that they will live by.

One thing that will have to be worked out is if there will be any extra financial support from one spouse to the other and how the monthly living expenses will be handled. How to determine who gets to spend time with the children will also be an important issue. It may be necessary for one spouse to spend more time away from the house when it is not “their weekend”.

One important point to note is that if your divorce case is based upon the fact that you have been living separate lives for a certain amount of time, you have to know when that clock starts ticking. The fact that you no longer have a physical relationship and you don’t do social things together does not constitute “separate lives” on its own. It is also important to consider the amount of communal activities that take place in the home. This can be especially difficult if there are children involved because it is likely that both parents would like to eat meals and watch TV with them. However, if the court decides there are too many group activities that have taken place, the amount of time spent living separate lives may only start when one spouse actually moves out of the house.

The reasons that people are getting divorced are changing and they way they handle money in a divorce case is also becoming much more of an issue. Many of these trends are even more pronounced in the South West when compared to the rest of the country.

The national average of people who have delayed their divorce because of low value or problems with liquidity of their assets is 54%. However, in the South West region, this number jumps all the way up to 67%.

Money issues also seem to be the driving factor in couple reaching settlement with their spouse instead of going through an official divorce court case. The national average is 63% and the average in the South West is a much higher 73%.

One trend that has recently developed is when one spouse engages in activities that are designed to hide some of their assets from their spouse, and from the court. 18% of the solicitors believe that they have been involved in cases where one spouse is actively seeking to conceal assets. This number is also higher in the South West region at 27%.

Many people believe the increase in people trying to conceal their assets is due to several high profile cases. It’s possible that people might not have thought about hiding their assets before seeing so many news stories about it.

Recent rulings may even help this trend continue to grow. In one case, the precedence was set that documents proving that a spouse was concealing their assets were not admissible in court if they were not obtained legally.

Another trend that was uncovered in the study is that extramarital affairs are no longer the top reason given for seeking a divorce. Affairs were the reason given in 25% of divorce cases, however for the first time 27% of people indicated they wanted a divorce because they simply grew apart. It seems likely that celebrities citing this reason may also be responsible for this growing trend.