Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren bog Obam. Here a new year. Time
Speaker 1: to firm up those resolutions, pair down possessions, eat more vegetables,
Speaker 1: and get divorced. Research commissioned by a UK based law
Speaker 1: firm called Cooperative Legal Services suggested that as of January
Speaker 1: brought an over three increase in divorce proceedings over the
Speaker 1: previous four months, and USA Today reported in twenty nineteen
Speaker 1: the the topic of divorce peaked on Google trends the
Speaker 1: week of January six through the twelve, at the dawn
Speaker 1: of a new year. It seems couples who have kept
Speaker 1: the peace during holiday festivities can wait no longer. Come
Speaker 1: January one, they're ready to take official action towards marriage dissolution.
Speaker 1: But it seems that it isn't the hoopla of the
Speaker 1: holidays that breaks the camels back. More likely, the leapen
Speaker 1: divorce inquiries is the result of a collective agreement to
Speaker 1: put off the big announcement until after the kids have
Speaker 1: opened their presence and all the grandparents, aunts and uncles
Speaker 1: have returned to their respective homes. The aforementioned law firm
Speaker 1: also commissioned a survey of five hundred divorces. The results
Speaker 1: found that of couples beginning divorce proceedings in January had
Speaker 1: already planned to call it quits long before the ball dropped.
Speaker 1: For the article, this episode is based on How Stuff Works.
Speaker 1: Spoke with Sam Hickman back in she was the head
Speaker 1: of family law for Cooperative Legal Services at the time.
Speaker 1: She explained many will have sought legal advice before the
Speaker 1: Christmas break and then chosen to move their separation forward
Speaker 1: in the new year. According to the survey's results, of
Speaker 1: respondents who didn't announce divorce proceedings until after the holidays
Speaker 1: said they didn't want to dampen the festivities. A third
Speaker 1: of those couples wanted to have quote one Mass Christmas
Speaker 1: as a family a all. Another third side of day
Speaker 1: lack of public confirmation as their reason for keeping mum,
Speaker 1: didn't want to upset family members with the news, and
Speaker 1: nine percent didn't want to spoil a child's birthday that
Speaker 1: fell around the holidays. Hickman said many couples, especially those
Speaker 1: with children, do not want to cause unnecessary upheaval over
Speaker 1: the festive period. They don't want the children distressed. However,
Speaker 1: it seems that January is actually the peak for divorce
Speaker 1: inquiries of rather than actual filings. A different survey conducted
Speaker 1: by the University of Washington, looking at fourteen years of data,
Speaker 1: found that March and August were both peak times for
Speaker 1: divorce filings. The divorce process does take some time, so
Speaker 1: while filings did begin to climb in January, March was
Speaker 1: the peak month. And what about August? The researchers believed
Speaker 1: parents may have wanted their children to have a good
Speaker 1: summer experience before filing for divorce, or maybe the big
Speaker 1: summer tripp didn't live up to expectations, increasing the disillusionment
Speaker 1: of the spouses with their marriage. They may have wanted
Speaker 1: to file before the start of the new school year.
Speaker 1: That's similar to how others filed at the start of
Speaker 1: calendar year. The August spike was almost at the level
Speaker 1: of the March peak. Hickman said, I don't think that
Speaker 1: there is a right time to file for divorce in
Speaker 1: the vast majority of cases. It is distressing news for
Speaker 1: any family at any time. Today's episode is based on
Speaker 1: the article is January really the biggest month for divorces?
Speaker 1: On how Stuff Works dot Com, written by Lauree L. Dove.
Speaker 1: The brain Stuff is production of iHeart Radio in partnership
Speaker 1: with how stuff works dot Com, and it's produced by
Speaker 1: Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the
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