North Carolina residents may have heard some reports that say divorce rates are down. While the official number of annual divorces has been dropping since it peaked in the 1980s, the numbers may reflect other factors besides strong marriages. These days, people are waiting longer to get married, and people are less likely to get remarried after their first marriage ends.
A sociologist from Bowling Green State University said that women who got married between the 1940s and the 1970s were usually around the age of 20. Today, it’s more common for a bride to be over the age of 27. Although today’s marriages are lasting longer and young people are less likely to divorce, sociologists still say that about 52.7 percent of marriages will end in divorce.
One of the factors keeping divorce rates high is the popularity of divorce among people in the ‘baby boomer” generation. According to the National Center for Family and Marriage at Bowling Green State University, the divorce rate among people aged 55 to 64 more than doubled from 1990 to 2012. Over the same period, divorce tripled among people over age 65. Some sociologists say that longer life expectancies lead more people to seek an end to their marriage.
The median length of a first marriage that ends in a divorce is 12 years. When a couple spends more than a decade living together, there can be a lot of shared assets that need to be divided when their marriage falls apart. An attorney can help a client to make sure that all marital assets are located and valued before property division negotiations take place.
If you are needing to speak to a divorce attorney, contact us online or call (704) 931-5535.