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Children Divorce Law

Children should come first in divorce

The overwhelming majority of Britons believe that putting children’s interests first or avoiding conflict are the most important factors when going through divorce, according to a new survey from Resolution, the national family law association.

Four out of five (78%) say that putting children’s interests first would be their most or second most important consideration in a divorce, while 53% would prioritise making the divorce as conflict-free as possible.

Despite this, over four-fifths of people (81%) believe that children end up being the main casualties of divorce, and 40% believe that divorces can never be without conflict – a figure that rises to nearly half (47%) of those who are currently divorced themselves. Nearly half (45%) think that most divorces involve a visit to court, despite the increasing availability of non-court alternatives,

In stark contrast to some of the high-profile divorce cases in recent years, financial factors are not seen as particularly important, with only 1% saying that being financially better off than their partner would be the most important consideration should they divorce.

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Divorce Law

Modern men make better husbands

New research from The Marriage Foundation has shown that the divorce rate for wife-granted divorces has more than halved since 1993. According to the report, this is because reduced pressure from family and society to get married makes men who decide to tie the knot more dedicated to their relationship.

The report, written by Harry Benson, Communications director at the Marriage Foundation, is the first ever analysis of divorce rates both by gender – whether the divorce is granted to the husband or to the wife – and years of marriage.

It reveals that amongst couples in their first decade of marriage, husband granted divorce rates increased by 1% between 1993 and 2010, while wife-granted divorce rates have fallen by 27%. When this analysis is applied to just the first three years of marriage the drop in divorces granted to women is a startling 51%.

“This dramatic fall in divorce rates is good news and should give people confidence in the strengths and benefits of this wonderful institution,” said Sir Paul Coleridge, the high court judge who launched the Marriage Foundation this year. “It is the instability of cohabitation that is our greatest concern.”

For further reading see http://www.marriagefoundation.org.uk/Web/News/News.aspx?news=123&RedirectUrl=~/Web/News/Default.aspx