As our society changes, so do our values and standards, as well as what we consider the norms in terms of behavior. This affects everything from our choices in education and profession, to relationships, and of course almost every other aspect of the way we conduct our lives. And while marriage and divorce, the capital letters proposed here, appear to be solid and immutable, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Both are dynamic and evolve over time, as can be seen by looking at even just a few years of divorce news and trends.
An example of this is the general rate of marriages and divorces in the country. Both rates have been falling. In 2016, the last year with statistics fully available at the time of this writing, the marriage rate was 6.9 marriages per 1,000 inhabitants, up from 8.2 in 2000. Meanwhile, for divorces, the Latest figures show 3.2 per 1,000, down from 4.0 in the same time period. Fewer people get married and fewer get divorced.
However, not all types of divorce are declining in prevalence. A specific guy is shooting up. That’s gray divorce, a term used to refer to couples over 50 in long-term marriages who get divorced. The rate has doubled since 1990.
Another emerging divorce trend is that of animal rights in family law cases and the pursuit of protecting their welfare rather than viewing them as tradable pieces of property. Currently, three states in the country have laws on file that stipulate exactly that, including Alaska, Illinois, and California, and more in the future appears to be a foregone conclusion.
Meanwhile, everything related to income and opportunity disparity, such as the 1% vs. For the 99%, heated debates and laws on tax rates for the rich continue to be the center of attention. Consider this: the richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos, is also getting divorced. The result will likely also be the most expensive divorce settlement in history, given its status. His personal wealth was estimated to be around $ 140 billion in early 2019, and half of that – plus or minus a few mansions or Amazon stock options – could be at stake.
Speaking of financial matters, another divorce trend right now is the increasing prevalence and confusion over Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in divorce. The cryptocurrency was generally designed to be difficult or impossible to track cleanly, while sudden changes in its value make it difficult to estimate fair value. Both of these issues appear to cause headaches for those trying to classify digital financial assets in divorce cases in the coming years.
Clearly, a lot is changing in the world of marriage and divorce. Staying up-to-date on the latest divorce news and trends is important on its own and can also be a useful way to assess what is happening in other parts of society.
