Jeremy Sutton: Family Lawyer on the divorce rate outpacing the marriage rate

The number of New Zealanders choosing to get divorced is outpacing those getting married.  

Stats NZ data shows a 3% drop in marriages and civil unions last year compared to 2024.  

In the same period, divorces were up 5%.  

Family Lawyer Jeremy Sutton told Ryan Bridge marriages are more likely to end in divorce after 25 years.  

He says if you're together for a longer period of time, you'll change and are more likely to get sick of each other. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Marriage rates are now officially lower than divorce rates. According
to stats in z three percent fewer couples decided to
tie the not last year than in twenty twenty four
to five percent more got divorced.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Jeremy Sutton's a family lawyer.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Jeremy, good morning, Good morning, Ryan, How are you very well?

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Thank you?

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Nice to have you on the show. Who's getting divorced?
Like couples that have been together for twenty years or
couples that have been together for five years.

Speaker 3 (00:24):
Yeah, it's kind of a mixture, Ryan, But there's one category,
these silver spooners. So they're you know, over fifty and
the kids have left home, and they're just they don't
have the same interest. One one wants to travel, peraths
and one wants to work. And then the younger ones

(00:45):
sometimes are only together for a few years and they divorce.
And those people, you know, will often have two or
three relationships in their life.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Jeremy, does it matter how long you are together? If
you are together for a longer period of time, I
guess there's more chance, a greater chance that you will
change as individual people, and therefore you might be more
likely to get a divorce.

Speaker 3 (01:11):
Yeah, if you're together for a longer period of time,
you'll you will change over time, and it's perhaps more
likely that you're going to times get a bit sick
of each other in terms of what you've been doing.
But the average length of a relationship, Ryan, is about
fourteen years.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
You're a family lawyer.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
You see a lot of this stuff in the courts.
What's your advice to people? If people don't want to
get divorced, they want to stay married that like to
give it a good go. What do you tell people?

Speaker 3 (01:46):
I tell people that it's never perfect. There are always
going to be issues within a marriage, and get help
either through your net friends, met.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Work, or.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
Buy some some sort of counseling and professional help to
you know, to to work through things with a psychologist.
That there are always going to be issues within a marriage,
aren't there, Ryan, But you just need to work through
these things. Sometimes it might be to do with finances.

(02:22):
Sometimes it could be with you know, the amount of
time you're spending together. But just have a go and
be patient.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
Jeremy Sutton, family lawyer.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
Nice to have you on talking about those new stats
in Z numbers.

Speaker 3 (02:40):
For more from earlier edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
to news talks it be from five am weekdays, or
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