Is January the Biggest Month for Divorce?

Legal inqueries into divorce go way up in January, but March and August also see spikes in filings. Learn why in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://people.howstuffworks.com/divorce-rates-january-new-year.htm

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey
brain Stuff, Lauren bog Obam. Here a new year. Time
to firm up those resolutions, pair down possessions, eat more vegetables,
and get divorced. Research commissioned by a UK based law
firm called Cooperative Legal Services suggested that as of January

(00:26):
brought an over three increase in divorce proceedings over the
previous four months, and USA Today reported in twenty nineteen
the the topic of divorce peaked on Google trends the
week of January six through the twelve, at the dawn
of a new year. It seems couples who have kept
the peace during holiday festivities can wait no longer. Come

(00:47):
January one, they're ready to take official action towards marriage dissolution.
But it seems that it isn't the hoopla of the
holidays that breaks the camels back. More likely, the leapen
divorce inquiries is the result of a collective agreement to
put off the big announcement until after the kids have
opened their presence and all the grandparents, aunts and uncles

(01:08):
have returned to their respective homes. The aforementioned law firm
also commissioned a survey of five hundred divorces. The results
found that of couples beginning divorce proceedings in January had
already planned to call it quits long before the ball dropped.
For the article, this episode is based on How Stuff Works.

(01:29):
Spoke with Sam Hickman back in she was the head
of family law for Cooperative Legal Services at the time.
She explained many will have sought legal advice before the
Christmas break and then chosen to move their separation forward
in the new year. According to the survey's results, of
respondents who didn't announce divorce proceedings until after the holidays

(01:52):
said they didn't want to dampen the festivities. A third
of those couples wanted to have quote one Mass Christmas
as a family a all. Another third side of day
lack of public confirmation as their reason for keeping mum,
didn't want to upset family members with the news, and
nine percent didn't want to spoil a child's birthday that
fell around the holidays. Hickman said many couples, especially those

(02:16):
with children, do not want to cause unnecessary upheaval over
the festive period. They don't want the children distressed. However,
it seems that January is actually the peak for divorce
inquiries of rather than actual filings. A different survey conducted
by the University of Washington, looking at fourteen years of data,

(02:37):
found that March and August were both peak times for
divorce filings. The divorce process does take some time, so
while filings did begin to climb in January, March was
the peak month. And what about August? The researchers believed
parents may have wanted their children to have a good
summer experience before filing for divorce, or maybe the big

(02:59):
summer tripp didn't live up to expectations, increasing the disillusionment
of the spouses with their marriage. They may have wanted
to file before the start of the new school year.
That's similar to how others filed at the start of
calendar year. The August spike was almost at the level
of the March peak. Hickman said, I don't think that
there is a right time to file for divorce in

(03:22):
the vast majority of cases. It is distressing news for
any family at any time. Today's episode is based on
the article is January really the biggest month for divorces?
On how Stuff Works dot Com, written by Lauree L. Dove.
The brain Stuff is production of iHeart Radio in partnership
with how stuff works dot Com, and it's produced by

(03:43):
Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the
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