25th December is celebrated in the whole world as Christmas and the celebrations continue for a week. With the arrival of the New Year, it marks an end to Christmas celebrations. However, it is also remembered among lawyers as Divorce Day. It is the latest phenomenon among lawyers, and in just the last few years lawyers had seen an increase in divorce cases on this day.
Couples are more willing to file divorce against each other on the day which falls on the first Monday of the New Year. In 2020, it was on the 6th of January. The reason could be because many people want to start their new year with no hopes, no aim, new goals, new people and a new start. However, more and more people are recognizing this day and the number of divorce applications is increasing year by year.
Relate is a support organization for divorces and it reported that in 2019, there were a greater number of their website visits on Divorce Day. It is a type of festive season and more and more people are considering their divorces to take place on this day. Talking specifically, there was an 84 percent increase to the visits of their website this year from the same time last year. It added that lawyers receive a lot of requests on this day about divorces and the inquiries are hard to handle. A 24 percent increase was recorded in the calls received to the helpline of Relate in 2017 when it was compared to the previous month’s average.
Amicable is a divorce support service that found that in January 2018, forty thousand and five hundred people searched for the keyword “divorce” online. Many people assume that it is just a hoax by lawyers who are in search of more business after the Christmas holidays, but Amanda McAlister has a different opinion. She regards Divorce Day as an actual and genuine event and explains that already strained relationships usually break on this day. When couples are forced to spend more time together because of the long holidays, their strained relation is further exposed to problems that add to the number of divorces on this day.
She also added that people wait till the end of Christmas vacations for several reasons. It may be because of children, extended families, or even because of the sooner ex-spouse that they wait to spend the last holidays together and as a result rush for divorce after the end of the vacations. More people wait for more than a week to file their divorce cases and as a result outnumber lawyers on the first day on which offices reopen.
Office for National Statistics (ONS) is regarded as the most authentic stats provider in the UK. It states than at least 4 out of every 10 marriages in the UK are turning out as divorces. It further added that half of them are fresh than 10 years. It shows how alarming is the situation and it needs some strict remedies. The government should aware public about family life more in the Christmas holidays, the family favored NGOs must take their stance and spread awareness specifically in the Christmas holidays to reduce the number of people seeking separation on the Divorce Day.
Related reading
- Divorce and Life Insurance: A Practical Guide
- Contested Divorce: What to Know and What to Ask
- Divorce and Custody for Infants: A Practical Guide
