The Austin Lafferty Solicitors & Estate Agents Blog

A recent survey of divorce lawyers in America has found that 56% of respondents reported seeing an increase in the number of mothers paying child support during the past three years, while 47% also noted a rise in women being responsible for alimony throughout the same time period.

"The court system always ends up reflecting changes in our society and this is certainly the case with issues regarding who pays child support and alimony," said Ken Altshuler, president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, which carried out the research.

"As more women achieve success on their career paths, they are also finding themselves increasingly responsible for financial obligations during and after the divorce process."

The Registrar General has published preliminary births, deaths and other vital events figures for 2011.

The number of deaths in Scotland fell to 53,661 in 2011, the lowest number since records began in 1855. This was 306 (0.6%) fewer than in 2010, and 195 (0.4%) below the previous lowest number (which was 53,856 in 2009).

The number of births registered in 2011 was 58,592 – 199 (0.3%) fewer than in 2010. The figures also show that 51% of births were to unmarried parents, the highest percentage recorded. There were 29,135 marriages in 2011 – 655 (2.3%) more than in 2010 and the highest figure since 2007.

Commenting on the provisional totals of vital events registered during 2011, Registrar General for Scotland George MacKenzie said:

“The preliminary number of divorces reported to us has again fallen slightly, this time to 9,814, though the final figure may be a little higher once we get all the late returns. The decline is not unexpected. We have seen a drop in the number of divorces each year since a peak in 2006 when the Family Law (Scotland) Act reduced separation periods.

“There were increases in the numbers of stillbirths, infant deaths, adoptions, marriages, civil partnerships formed and civil partnerships dissolved.”

 

For many years, January was widely considered "Divorce Month" by divorce attorneys who experienced a dramatic upturn in business immediately following the holiday season.

However, according to a new analysis of divorce filings and searches for divorce-related information on the Internet, March is the true "Divorce Month" in America.

According to American company FindLaw, searches for "divorce" and related phrases such as "family law" and "child custody" jumped 50% from just over 10,000 in December 2010, to nearly 16,000 in January 2011, and continued to surge through March.

Along these same lines, analysis of divorce filings across the U.S. between 2008 and 2011 revealed that divorces spike in January, continue to rise and peak in late March.

A recent survey has found that more and more single women would rather date an older divorced man than a man younger than then.

The study, by ThePicnicProject.com, has found that these women, nicknamed 'Pumas' because of their interest in Previously Married and Attractive men, see a number of advantages in divorced men.

Around 12% of women in the survey say that men who have been married before have better experience at relationships, and 8% feel they are more sensitive to a woman's needs. Around 7% of women questioned liked the fact that divorced men have demonstrated an ability to make a serious commitment.

More than a third (36%) don't care if a man is divorced as long as he is interesting, and a fifth (18%) aren't interested in his relationship history as long as he's attractive.

A quarter of women also admit they're not put-off by children from another relationship (24%).

 

A court in the United Arab Emirates has witnessed what must be one of the shortest marriages in history, reports Emirates 24/7.

The judge presiding over the court in Ras Al Khaimah had complied with a request to solemnise the marriage of an 80-year-old man to a 20-year-old woman.

After spending only an hour in her new husband's home however, the woman came back to the courtroom and asked the same judge for a divorce.

She gave no reason for the request, but after gaining the husband's permission, the judge granted the divorce.

 

A recent study has found that men get over a divorce much quicker than women, and are twice as likely to consider getting remarried, reports the Huffington Post.

According to the study, which was carried out to promote a film's DVD release, 47% of men would be keen to marry again after going through a divorce, compared to only 20% of divorced women.

The study also found that around 31% of divorced men, but only 19% of women, had tried internet dating, and 42% of divorced men were so keen to meet a new partner that they would be prepared to pay for professional dating advice.

Recent research from America has found that around two thirds of cohabiting couples were put off marriage because of concerns about dealing with the social, legal, emotional and economic consequences of a possible divorce.

Researchers at Cornell University and the University of Central Oklahoma found that approximately 67% of the study’s respondents shared their worries about divorce. Despite the concerns, middle-class subjects spoke more favorably about tying the knot and viewed cohabitation as a natural stepping stone to marriage compared to their working-class counterparts. Lower-income women were more likely to view marriage as a "trap," fearing that it could be hard to get out of if things go wrong or it would lead to additional domestic responsibilities but few benefits.

The study also found working-class cohabitating couples were more apt to view marriage as “just a piece of paper,” nearly identical to their existing relationship. They were twice as likely to admit fears about being stuck in marriage with no way out once they were relying on their partners’ share of income to get by.